


Sunnydale's Last Guardians

by RavenclawSlayer



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 39,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24575536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenclawSlayer/pseuds/RavenclawSlayer
Summary: The season 7 rewrite. It needed Fuffy and Tillow, and hey... I had to write it.This fic is now complete.(don't worry - the 'Major Character Death' doesn't apply to our Chosen Two)
Relationships: Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers, Kennedy (BtVS)/Dawn Summers, Tara Maclay/Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris/Anya Jenkins
Comments: 24
Kudos: 79





	1. Back in Sunnydale

AN/ I'm gonna mess with the timeline a bit in this story. Faith arrives to Sunnydale before all of the other Potential Slayers, no one is really expecting her.

The bus ride from Los Angeles to Sunnydale seemed to last forever for Faith, who was on her way to try and make things better with Buffy and help her any way she needed to be helped. She was nervous about seeing Buffy again, but she really wanted to apologize and try to start a new chapter with her former frenemy.

Two hours in the bus felt like two centuries for Faith and when she finally arrived to Sunnydale’s bus station, she took a deep breath and mumbled to herself:

“Back to Sunnyhell… it’s five by five, Faith. Nothing bad is gonna happen this time…”

She thought about how royally it had all gone to hell for her in the past, and just hoped that History wouldn’t repeat itself. She was different now, more mature and ready to make amends. Still, facing Buffy scared her more than all the demons in the world combined.

Trying to get rid of that annoying nervousness, Faith decided to go patrol over one of twelve Sunnydale cemeteries. Faith wondered how the rest of the town managed to fit in Sunnydale with all those graveyards. Oh, and forty-three churches. That was a bit creepy, but Sunnydale’s residents really needed to believe in something when they were constantly attacked by vampires and horrible demons.

Thinking about cemeteries and churches was way better than thinking about Buffy. Way less confusing, at least those were facts. When it was about Buffy, she was a complete mystery to Faith… and that mystery was about to get even more… mysterious.

Faith spotted a vampire and she was just gonna run to slay him, when she noticed Buffy sitting on a grave and actually TALKING to him.

“What??”, Faith whispered, and sneaked through the bushes to get closer, hoping to hear something that would explain why Buffy was socializing with the creature she was supposed to be slaying. Then she remembered Angel and figured seeing Buffy talk to a vampire wasn’t the strangest thing ever.

“The last guy I was with, it got really... I behaved like a monster. Treated him like... and at the same time I let him just take me over, do things to me that... if anyone knew what really went on between us, they'd never look at me again.”

Faith couldn’t believe her own ears. It seemed that Buffy didn’t just pull that stick out of her ass, she actually experienced some form of BDSM. Little princess tasted darkness and the more Faith heard, the more she thought her fellow Slayer wanted to drown in that darkness again...

“I'm afraid. I'm afraid of falling back into the way I was last year. I thought I was nothing. I have so much power, I didn't ask for it, I don't deserve it... sometimes I think... I think the relationship I   
had last year was... like I wanted to be punished. I wanted to hurt like I thought I deserved to. “-Buffy kept opening up to the vampire and Faith just kept opening and closing her mouth like a fish, she never thought she’d hear those words come from Buffy…

And, in her wildest dreams, she never imagined Buffy would let SPIKE take her over and treat her like a sex slave.

“And I thought I was messed up.”, Faith whispered when she saw Buffy slay the vamp. Buffy entered the whole new level of messed-up-ness.

She watched the older Slayer shake dust off her clothes and walk away, like she had a burden pressed down on her shoulders. Faith couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for her…

After walking all over the cemetery, trying to (unsuccessfully) find something to slay, Faith headed to Revello Drive.

Something was wrong, she figured it out as soon as she saw the door was open and the window was crushed. The house was dark, though, and Faith just hoped that everything was ok. After hearing Buffy’s confession monologues, she didn’t think that the blonde Slayer needed one more bad thing on her plate.

“Anybody home??”, Faith yelled and Dawn and Willow who were seated on the couch responded “Come in!”

When they saw it was Faith, Willow glared at her like she was shooting blades and Dawn said just “Don’t you dare attack Buffy again, Faith…”

“I come in peace, you believe it or not. Geez, Dusk, what happened to you?”, Faith asked, Dawn had a cut and blood on her face and she looked terrified.

“This… thing has been after us, taking shapes of people we lost… It’s been freaking us out, but this… it’s just taken its games to the whole new level. It knows us, Faith, it made me think that I was talking to Tara…”, Willow’s eyes filled with tears…

“And I thought it was mom… I don’t know anymore, but it seemed… she was so real…”

“Jesus… that sounds bad.”, Faith frowned. She expected something to be wonky in Sunnyhell, but this evil sounded worse than ever.

“Have you seen Buffy on your way here? I can’t reach her; she forgot her cell phone here.”, said Willow and cuddled up with Dawn, who really looked scared, she kept trying not to think about the possibility that Buffy might be lying dead somewhere… she worried every time her sister got in later than usually because the fear of losing her again was worse than anything.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve come here to look for her.”, Faith lied because she didn’t think it was necessary for them to know what Buffy had said, especially that bit about her being better than them, superior. That girl was seriously messed up and Faith thought she’d have to talk to her in private soon.

At that moment Buffy burst into the house yelling “Dawnie, are you ok? What happ-“, she abruptly stopped talking when she saw Faith and she just punched her in the face so hard Faith stumbled backwards.

“You think you can just burst in here and attack my sister?!”

“Buffy! No, wait, you got it all wrong!”, Willow yelled, Faith was too busy wiping blood off her lips and nose.

“What the hell is going on?!”, Buffy yelled and when Willow explained it all she looked at Faith and said: “Geez, sorry, Faith. Didn’t mean to punch you that bad.”

“Oh you meant it, but hey… I would have probably assumed the same thing. Good to see you’ve still got it even after being… away.”

Faith couldn’t really say ‘dead’, it hurt her just to think about it cause she’d FELT it when Buffy died. She had been lying on the bed in her cell and she almost cried out, it had felt like a part of her had been ripped away…

Buffy noticed how hard it was for Faith to think about it, and she was surprised, but touched. She never really expected that Faith would mourn her.

“I always say I’m pretty spry for a corpse.”

Buffy gave her a little smile that, Faith noticed, never reached her eyes, and added “I’m going to get some ice. Sorry I hit you that hard.”

“It’s fine, B, really.”

“No, it’s not.”, Buffy said shortly and practically ran to the kitchen. Faith really wanted to know what was happening in that cute little blonde head…

She sat down on an armchair and tried to start a normal conversation with Dawn and Willow, but it wasn’t that easy. She didn’t know how to apologize for almost killing them all.

“Heard you were in L.A. How’s Angel?”, Buffy showed up behind her so quietly she almost jumped. And she did jump when the blonde Slayer gently placed an ice pack on her nose and lips. “Sorry again.”

Faith never thought she’d hear Buffy apologize so many times in a minute, so she just shrugged and said “It’s really ok, B. Angel’s ok now, all soulful again…”

“Good. Good to hear that.”, Buffy said, her voice quiet.

_Angel’s still a painful subject too. It’s so insane they love each other so much and can’t be together._

“I heard Captain Peroxide got himself a soul too.”, Faith said, wondering how Buffy would react to his nick name. The guy she let take over her. _I never would have guessed._

“Yeah, he did. He went through some really horrible trials to get it.”, Buffy said and Dawn added quickly:

“Because he fell in love with Buffy. I warned him he’d wake up on fire if he tried to hurt her again, though. I’m not to be messed with.”

Dawn’s glare directed at her almost made Faith wince. The littlest Summers was a tough cookie as well.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”, Faith gave a little smile to Dawn, and surprisingly, she smiled back. She noticed that Buffy crossed her arms on her chest and kinda retreated when Dawn commented about Spike hurting her. She wondered if he hurt her more than during those S&M games of theirs.

Just thinking about that possibility made her wanna ram a stake through his vampire body. She didn’t wanna ask anything, though, it was obviously a painful subject to Buffy.

Being in jail turned Faith into a more observing and careful person. She wasn’t reckless and thoughtless anymore. Now that she remembered jumping into a manhole to slay six vampires she couldn’t believe she could have been that stupid. Well, if she wanted to be honest with herself, she’d done many stupid things in her past and it was time to make up for them.

 _If Angel and Spike could make up for killing hundreds of people, I can do it too,_ Faith thought and decided to change the subject. “I just wanted to let you guys know I was back in town, but it’s late and I should just go to a motel…”

She was surprised when Buffy adamantly refused that idea “What? A motel? No, no, you’re staying here. I would, in normal circumstances, offer you the couch, but since the living room is in shambles, you’re gonna sleep with me. In my room, that is.”, Buffy decided to rephrase it a little, but her mind chose to go to a place where she was actually doing funner things than sleeping with her fellow Slayer and she blushed.

“Ok then. Well, thanks, B. I’m going out for a smoke.”

“Wait, I’m going with you.”, Buffy said and sat on the stairs next to Faith, who lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply.

“I’m glad you’re here. No way I could train a bunch of girls all alone.”

“Giles said you needed me and that’s all I needed to know. It’s time you and I fight together and show the motherfuckers we’re not to be messed with.”

“Thanks.”, Buffy said and just sat there, thinking hard. It was all so weird… So many thoughts flooded her brain at once, she thought her head might explode. Holden told her that Spike had sired him… Spike had a soul now and she didn’t know what to think… and Holden had no reason to lie to her. She’d thought about visiting Spike, but decided to do it the next day cause her blood was still boiling from all the confessions and shocks of the night.

“I’ll go back to jail when we beat this shit, whatever it is.”, Faith said, quietly.

It seemed that Buffy hadn’t heard her, she just stared into nothing, frowning. Now that it was so late and quiet, Buffy’s thoughts went to a very strange direction, and formed an idea that made her hear a PING sound that almost made her jump excitedly.

Creepy blind dudes.

Dawn saw their mother.

Willow thought he’d talked to Tara.

“The First.”- she whispered, her eyes wide.

“The First what?”- Faith asked, confused.

“Evil.”

“Splainy?”

“Potential Slayers have been getting killed all over the world. I think the First wants to end the Slayer line. First all of them and then you and me. If it kills them all and then ends us… You actually, cause you’re the active Slayer now, no other Slayer will ever get Called again.”, Buffy’s brow furrowed, she was seriously worried. She had no idea how to fight something that had no body to hurt.

“Killing Slayers all over… And no one thought about warning me. I got attacked in jail, but I thought it was just a random bully… Guess not.”

“Oh, god, Faith… I’m… I’m sorry. I thought you were safe… in jail.”, Buffy said and suddenly realized it was a very stupid thing to think.

“It’s five by five. So, we should probably go find the Potential guys and bring them here, right? No safer place than the Hellmouth.”, Faith joked a little and stomped on the cigarette butt to put it out.

“Yeah… I’ll call Giles as soon as I can.”

“Uh, B., I’m kinda beat. I just wanna shower and hit the hay. Haven’t had a good night’s sleep in ages.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling…”, Buffy said and looked away. Since she got resurrected, she woke up screaming or with a scream stuck in her throat and her body drenched in sweat almost every night. Just when she thought the nightmares would finally end, horrible scenes of Potential Slayers dying started appearing in her dreams.

“Uh, I’ll prepare the bed for you while you’re in the shower.”

Faith nodded slowly and headed upstairs. Buffy stayed outside for a few more minutes, she just needed to breathe in some fresh air because it felt like there was something weighing on her chest.

As she walked upstairs, Faith thought how different Buffy was. Now that she looked at her, she could see darkness. That Golden Girl vibe was gone. Like, totally gone. She had been screwing Spike, after all.

She felt like a new person after a nice shower, and when she entered the bedroom, Buffy was in bed, tucked under her covers.

There was a mattress on the floor, a pillow and a duvet and Faith slipped under the covers too.

“Hey, B?”

“Yes?”, Buffy shifted to the edge of the bed and looked at Faith.

“Are you ok?”, Faith asked and thought how stupid that question sounded out loud.

“Five by five.”, Buffy said shortly. She wasn’t ready to get all confessional with her old frenemy.

“That’s my catchphrase, B. I know what it actually means.”

“I know.”, Buffy sighed, “Good night, Faith.”

“Night, B.”- Faith said, but couldn’t actually fall asleep straight away. She’d often imagined what reuniting with Buffy would be like, but every scenario turned out to be wrong. Buffy didn’t wanna kill her or fight her, she seemed to have forgiven her, but even though she was so close to her now, Buffy felt like she was miles away.

Tiredness took over Faith and she fell asleep like the dead. Still, habit awoke her at five thirty a.m. and she looked around, confused. It took her a moment to remember that she was in Sunnydale… in Buffy’s bedroom.

She closed her eyes again, thinking it was too early to get up, when she heard a quiet sob. First she thought she’d imagined it, but then Buffy sobbed again, louder.

Feeling a little worried, Faith got up and looked at her blonde counterpart. She didn’t look like the fearless hero now, she looked scared and innocent. Her brow was furrowed, and sobs kept escaping her. Her body shook and she rolled on the other side and kicked the duvet off the bed. Was the petite blonde fighting demons even in her dreams?

“Hey, B… hey…”, Faith decided to shake Buffy slowly, she hated to see her in distress. At the same time, she couldn’t help noticing Buffy’s body, which looked so fragile now that she was asleep. Her shorts were so tiny they barely covered her ass and the tank top she was wearing lifted up a little and exposed her toned stomach.

Feeling guilty about checking her out that way, Faith shook the blonde again. “Hey, B… You’re just dreaming… Wake up, you’re safe…”

Buffy jumped into a sitting position, her eyes wide and her breathing fast and ragged, like she’d just run ten miles.

“Faith?”, Buffy whispered, still looking bewildered.

“You were sobbing and thrashing… Uh, have some water.”, she handed Buffy a glass of water that was on her night stand. “Do you remember what you were dreaming about?”

“Another girl got killed. And… I woke up in a… a coffin.”, Buffy answered hoarsely. Her mouth was so dry and she drank the whole glass of water at once.

“It’s a… recurring nightmare.”

There was such a haunted look on Buffy’s pretty face and it dawned on Faith that Buffy had actually woken up in a coffin when they resurrected her and she felt horror creep into every cell of her body. She thought she would have died of fear if it had happened to her.

“You’re safe now.”, she whispered and surprised both Buffy and herself when she wrapped her arms around Buffy’s body gently.

“Faith…”, Buffy whispered and snuggled into her ex enemy’s body. She wanted to say something, but now that she was comfy and warm in Faith’s arms, sleep started overtaking her again.

 _I must be dreaming,_ Faith thought and pulled a duvet over their bodies. She never cuddled anyone before, but holding Buffy felt nice… Maybe even a bit too nice, and a moment later she was also fast asleep.


	2. The Seal of Danzalthar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith goes to Sunnydale High to see if it's all school-like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I was gonna post a chapter on Sunday, but I'm not gonna be home much for the rest of the week and thought I'd surprise you. Looking forward to reading your opinions :) xx

The alarms went off in Faith’s head when she awoke with a start at seven a.m. Buffy was still curled up in her arms and she wasn’t ready for THAT. Careful about not waking the sleeping beauty, Faith got up and sneaked out to go to the bathroom. She didn’t want Buffy to think that she enjoyed sleeping with her. She wondered if Buffy would even remember that she’d fallen asleep in her, Faith’s, arms.

Dawn was eating a bowl of cereal and watching TV when Faith got downstairs.

“You’re up early, kid.”

“I’m not a kid. I’m up cause I gotta go to school. Coffee’s ready.”, Dawn said, not taking her eyes off of the screen. Morning cartoons were on and Faith chuckled, entertained. She never would have admitted to Dawn that she herself actually rather enjoyed those cartoons.

It was so strange for Faith to be back in Sunnydale, in Buffy’s home, of all places. She poured herself a cup of coffee and went to sit outside so she could smoke a cigarette. A car stopped in front of the house, and Faith was surprised to see Xander get out of it. He looked nothing like his old self. Instead of those ridiculous shirts a clown wouldn’t be caught wearing, in Faith’s humble opinion, he was wearing a nice red shirt and a suit.

“Faith. Heard you were back.”, Xander said shortly. He couldn’t help feeling a bit bitter when he remembered that Faith had almost strangled him, and that she had hurt Buffy and pretty much everyone else.

“Yup. Hey. If you’re picking up Dusk, she’s watching cartoons.”

“Buffy’s not up yet?”

“No, I don’t…”

At that moment they heard banging, Buffy was running down the stairs, looking a bit disheveled.

“Give me five minutes, guys! Shit!”

“She’s not the morning type.”, Xander commented, just to say something. He felt like a silly teenager around Faith.

“Does Little D still have a crush on you?”, Faith asked and Xander thought it was so weird that Faith knew that even though she had never met Dawn, technically. Those implanted memories really were a wicked thing.

“I don’t think so. Last week she was pining over a High School jock…”

He never finished his sentence cause the Summers sisters appeared on the porch and said they were ready to go in unison.

“I’m a guidance counselor at the brand new Sunnydale High.”, Buffy explained to Faith, who looked a little confused.

“Oh, ok… Well, you guys have a good day.”

She figured that Buffy didn’t remember being held by her, but then she said “Yeah… THANKS, Faith. See you later.”

The brunette just nodded and lifted her cup of coffee in a way of saying bye. Xander and the Summers girls drove away and Faith sat in front of the TV and watched cartoons until Willow woke up. The usually chipper redhead looked pretty grumpy as she walked like a zombie holding her coffee. Faith remembered that Willow, or Red, how she’d always called her, had also killed someone. That annoying little devil on her shoulder whispered in her ear _She always judged you, and thought she was better than you. Now she’s a murderer too. And you never flayed a guy alive, so she’s even worse than you._

Of course, she couldn’t say that to Willow, so she just said “Good morning” and waited for Willow to speak, small talk wasn’t really her thing.

°°°

Xander was driving, Dawn was sitting in the back and Buffy was in the passenger seat, sipping her coffee. She was still a bit sleepy, and more than just a little confused. The previous night Faith held her in her arms and she slept like a log, for the first time after coming back from the dead.

The fact that she slept that well in Faith’s arms, of all people, freaked her out. She’d felt safe in her arms, and there was that little tingle that had a calming effect on her. What did it mean?

“How does it feel to have Faith back on your side?”, Xander’s question made her snap out of her thoughts, but Buffy didn’t really know how to answer him.

“She seems to have changed, Xand. I’m glad she’s here.”, she said eventually and frowned a little when Dawn commented

“One can’t say that you aren’t forgiving. Most people wouldn’t forgive people who almost raped or killed them.”

“I forgave Willow; I can’t be a hypocrite with double standards. Besides, Spike got his soul back… and looks like Faith’s done the same thing, in a way.”

She felt uneasy when she remembered Spike. She didn’t wanna kill him, but she knew she wouldn’t have much of a choice if he’d really started killing again. She’d killed Angel, she knew she’d kill Spike if it came to that.

“I still want you to be careful, Buff. Around both of them.”, Xander looked at her, a wary expression on his face. He knew he’d never be able to forget the look on his friend’s face when he found her sitting on the bathroom floor after Spike had tried to rape her.

“I will be.”

“Ah, here we are. Welcome to the Hellmouth.”, Dawn sighed when Xander stopped the car in front of the school.

“Thanks for the ride, Xand.”, Buffy said and kissed his cheek before she got out of the car.

Another very colorful day was ahead of her, and Buffy wished she could blow up the school once again- that had been mighty satisfying.

°°°

Hanging out with Willow wasn’t very much fun, and Faith decided to go for a walk. The town itself was actually kinda cute… how the looks could be deceiving. The Slayer in her couldn’t help wondering for how much longer Sunnydale would stand proudly on top of its very own Hellmouth.

Memories flooded her mind as she walked… And every single one of them was connected to Buffy somehow. The shop they’d broken into, the Bronze where they’d danced their asses off, the dock where they’d fought Mr. Trick, the place Kakistos had lured them into, the alley where….

Faith blinked, she didn’t wanna think about Finch and everything that happened afterwards. She just walked, not thinking of any particular place, and she found herself standing in front of the Sunnydale High.

_Of course. I find myself where she is. Cause she’s been in the back of my mind the whole damn time._

There was time to spare, so Faith walked around the school, curious about what it all looked like now. She was just as curious as Buffy had been on Dawn’s first day of school. They were both Slayers, they couldn’t help being cautious and curious about the place that literally sat on the Hellmouth.

“Hey!”, she yelled at two kids who were just getting ready to do graffiti on the new façade. They stared at her defiantly and she caught up with them and sent them flying. They landed on the shrubs and stared at her with a mixture of horror and amazement. Then they ran and Faith had to chuckle.

“Ah, screw it. I gotta snoop.”, Faith whispered to herself when she entered the school building and walked around slowly. The inside of the school was completely different now. She kinda automatically headed towards where the library had been, cause it used to be the Scooby Central.

She stopped in her tracks when she realized it was now the Principal’s office. Did that mean that the Principal was evil? Probably not. After all, Giles had worked in the library for years, and he’d never tried to kill anyone.

“Can I help you?”, a young and handsome black man asked her just when she peeked through Buffy’s office window.

“Uh… I’m… a friend of Buffy’s.”, she said, lamely.

The guy gave her a big smile “I’m Robin Wood, the Principal. I’m afraid Buffy’s too busy to see you right now. These kids have been acting like monsters lately.”

The Principal? Faith didn’t know Principals also came in sexy packages. Her ears perked up when Robin compared kids to monsters.

“Ah, yeah, puberty. You’re lucky I’m not one of your students. I dropped out of school. It was nice to meet you.”

“You never actually told me your name.”, Robin noticed.

“Faith.”, she and Buffy, who had just opened the door to let the pupil out of her office, said.

“Hey, B.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Kinda wandered off. I’ll wait for you at the Espresso Pump.”

“Sounds good. Do you like the new school?”, Buffy asked, significantly looking into Faith’s eyes.

“Haven’t had time to check it out properly. But, you know schools always gave me heebie jeebies.”

It was Faith’s way of telling Buffy that she’d check it out, and she knew that Buffy understood her.

“Yeah, I know.”, Buffy grinned quickly and then excused herself cause a girl from Dawn’s class arrived and slipped into her office without ever acknowledging the Principal and Faith.

°°°

Faith walked through the halls and ended up in the basement. It was like something was pulling her there. Wicked ominous, she thought… and she wasn’t disappointed when she saw an unearthed goat head with a tongue sticking out.

“The Hellmouth is quite artistic.”, Faith mused and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. Angel had given it to her. It had a camera and she used it to take a few photos of the Goaty Badness. The quality of the photos wasn’t all that stellar, but the Goat was visible enough.

“It’s the Seal of Danzalthar.”, a familiar voice said to her. She turned around and noticed a bleached blonde guy sitting in a dark corner.

“You’ve got a very strange chill out place, dude.”, Faith commented and looked at him more carefully. “Spike?”

“Do I know you? Are you real or just another figment of guilty conscience?”

“I’m Faith. A Slayer. We actually met once. But, I looked like Buffy and you weren’t this weird.”

“Oh, right.”

“So why are you here? And what did you say this was?”

“I live here. The Seal of Danzalthar. I don’t recommend you to stay here too long. This place messes with people’s minds.”

“Sure messed with yours.”, Faith muttered as she watched him run his fingers through his hair. His fingers and fingernails were all muddy and she wondered what he’d been up to.

“Yeah… Everything always messes with my head. Shut up, just shut up!”, he said, looking at something only he could see, and walked away, then disappeared into a tunnel before Faith managed to ask him anything else.

Slightly frowning, Faith exited the school and headed to the Espresso Pump, where she ordered coffee, took the newspaper to check out what was happening in the world, and waited for Buffy.

°°°

“Hey, Faith.”, Buffy said when she sat down.

“B, hey… Got something to show you.”

“What is it?”

Buffy’s eyes widened in surprise when she saw the Goat. “What on Earth…?”

“According to Spike, it’s the Seal of Danzalthar. Wicked, right?”

“Totally… Wait, how do you know Spike?”

“Met him when… when I was you. He didn’t seem like he was all there, it was weird. But he seemed to be sure about the Goat thing.”

“Is that in the school basement?”

“Yeah.”

“It wasn’t there when I was down there a few days ago.”, Buffy said, frowning. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the photo.

“What’s Spike’s deal? Why does he live in the basement?”, Faith asked, curiously, and she could tell that Buffy didn’t really wanna talk about him.

“The soul is affecting him and making him feel guilty about things… He’s gonna be fine, he’s already much better.”

“Ok. Look, I don’t wanna pry, but last night Dawn mentioned something about Spike hurting you, and then you kinda closed up, but now you sound like you care about him so I’m a little confused.”

“I can’t talk about it here…”, Buffy whispered and sipped her coffee, wondering if she’d be able to talk about it at all. She had told everything to Tara… God, that wound still hurt. She kept wishing she could take back the time and save her. _It’s my fault that she’s dead… If Warren hadn’t shown up to kill me, Tara would still be alive._

Faith noticed different emotions pass over Buffy’s face and got even more curious, but she wouldn’t ask any more questions. She would let Buffy decide when and what she wanted to tell her.

“Sure, B. No problem.”

“Patrol later? Like good old days?”, Buffy suggested to break the deafening silence.

“Oh, yes, please. Been itching to kill some undead booty.”

“I bet!”, Buffy grinned. “Hey, Faith?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for last night. For… for holding me. I don’t remember the last time I slept so well.”

It felt strange to admit it to Faith, but she just needed to say it because she could hardly think about anything else all day.

“You’re welcome, B. And… me neither.”

They locked eyes and both felt tingles, but none of them wanted to think about what it meant so they just grinned at each other, paid and headed to Revello Drive.

The walk home wasn’t that awkward, they kept chatting about things that had changed since Faith had last been to Sunnydale. It felt nice to just chat and joke and pretend like they were just two normal young women, whose shoulders weren’t burdened with the weight of the World.


	3. S-lay-ing Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The case of H&H

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being awesome and liking and reviewing!  
> Special thanks to Liz, who read the whole fic and gave me the best reviews ever! <3

This time round Buffy and Faith discovered they could actually work together and be friends once again. There was no childish jealousy, rivalry, they were two warriors, equals.

Slaying was still their number one thing. There was no one in the world who could do what they did together and whenever they went patrolling it was the most intense and exhilarating thing in the world. They’d been badass together as kids, but now they were like fire and air that danced together and engulfed the world in more flames.

So many feelings flooded both Slayers as they fought a band of vampires as a team. They were incredible together, feeling in sync like no time had passed since their last patrol together. The breeze caressed their faces as they kicked and punched vampires like an unstoppable force of nature.

There had been six vampires, and now there were just two left, so each Slayer chose one to pummel. Buffy remembered how she’d sung about wanting to be alive, and now she felt it. She really felt it, down to every heartbeat that pounded in her ears.

 _This is what I was built for,_ Buffy thought as she slammed a stake into the vampire’s chest. She watched Faith do the same a second later, and grinned.

“High five, B! We still got it!”, Faith grinned back and squeezed Buffy’s hand when their palms connected.

Her heart was still fluttering in her chest, she’d missed this action, this rush that came with it, and… Buffy, of course. For the first time since she’s reunited with Buffy, she saw a spark in those green eyes. Oh, the blondie was totally getting off on Slaying, if she wanted to admit it or not.

“Oh yeah!”, Buffy agreed, trying to catch her breath. “Faith, hungry?”

“Starved.”

Faith’s voice was a bit husky when she said that, and Buffy assumed the other H was bothering her too, but she was too shy to ask her that. No, wait, the old Buffy would have been too shy to ask such a personal question, but this new Buffy was a bit bolder.

“What about the other H?”, she asked, quietly, avoiding Faith’s eyes, and the formerly rogue Slayer could hardly believe her own ears.

“Did you just ask me…?”, Faith stopped in her tracks and looked at Buffy in amazement.

“… about the other H. Cause I’m… well, not craving a non-fat yogurt.”

Did it mean what Faith thought it meant?

Was Buffy making a move?

Her heart beat like a drum, just thinking about the possibility of kissing the blonde Slayer, never mind doing anything else. Not that she’d never thought about it… She might have even drawn some sketches.

“I knew your non-fat yogurt story was utter bull.”, Faith grinned and stared into Buffy’s green eyes, which were still shining with excitement… and maybe some mischief?

She made a step toward Buffy, who suddenly grabbed her jacket and pulled her into a kiss.

Faith gasped in surprise, but the next second she passionately returned the kiss. Her body was buzzing; she couldn’t believe it was happening. The only thing she could think about was _BUFFY IS KISSING ME!_

A little panicked voice in Buffy’s head said _What the hell did you just do?! What is this… Why does it feel so damn good?_

They broke the kiss just for a second to catch a breath, and Faith was surprised when Buffy pinned her against the mausoleum and kissed her harder. It was surreal. She was sure she’d wake up any moment… The wild Slayer inside of her loved being in control and she flipped Buffy to the other side and pinned her to the wall with her arms above her head.

A moan escaped Buffy and Faith whispered in her ear “I’m always on top…”

She never expected Buffy to say “Perfect…”

A predatory grin appeared on Faith’s face and Buffy thought it was the sexiest thing ever. Faith’s lips attacked her neck, licked and nibbled on it and sucked over the scar that was made by Angel. Buffy’s arms were still pinned above her head and she never even tried to free herself. If anything, the naughty blondie moved her hips and grinded against Faith’s thigh.

“Fuck, B… I can’t believe… Wow.”, Faith couldn’t help saying, she was still completely thrown by the fact that she was making out with the Golden Girl… who pulled her into another searing kiss.

“God, I want you… But… we shouldn’t… should we?”, Buffy whispered, her voice breaking because Faith moved her free hand under her shirt and gently squeezed her breast as their tongues once again danced with each other.

“I want you too.”, Faith said, simply, and pinched Buffy’s nipple through the bra. Hearing Buffy say that she wanted her turned her on even more, she felt like her blood turned into fire and burnt through her body… She let go of Buffy’s arms and lifted her up a little, and was happy that Buffy wrapped her arms around her neck straight away.

The dark Slayer unzipped Buffy’s jeans and slid them down, along with the tiny black thong which partially hid Buffy’s wetness. Oh, she was so wet, it made Faith growl and kiss her harder. Her fingers just slid inside and they both moaned loudly.

Buffy bit into her shoulder and started moving her body to get Faith’s fingers as deep as possible. It felt amazing, better than anything she’d ever felt. The way Faith pounded her and curled her fingers inside her made Buffy see stars. Her trembling body wanted, no, needed more… And she needed to feel more of Faith, so she slid her hand under Faith’s shirt and ripped the bra off of her, it was in the way.

“Ohhh, you…”, Faith grinned and sped up the pace of her finger as Buffy’s hand cupped her breasts and rolled her nipple between her fingers. Buffy’s left arm was still wrapped around Faith’s neck, and she couldn’t stop kissing those full lips, cause Faith’s velvety tongue felt too damn good to describe it.

“Faith… I’m… oooh god!”, Buffy moaned as Faith’s thumb teased her clit mercilessly. Her whole body was shaking now; she was so close.

“Let go, Twinkie… Just let go…”, Faith whispered in her ear and gently licked it, and Buffy felt butterflies, gripped Faith’s tightly and screamed her name as she exploded all over her hand.

“Fuck, that was…”, they said in unison and grinned at each other.

“I think it’s my turn now… But I can’t feel my legs.”, Buffy said, breathing hard and then she smiled when Faith gently sat her down on a grave. It was so weird, but strangely hot, to have sex in the graveyard… Buffy leaned on the gravestone, pulled Faith close to her and the next moment the brunette’s pants were down and her, already wet pussy, was on Buffy’s lips, teased by the snakey little tongue that moved all over very fast…

“Oh, B…”, Faith moaned, gripped the headstone and grinded against Buffy’s mouth when the tongue entered her and started sliding in and out at a steady pace. Buffy’s hands grabbed her ass to hold her in place, and they both moaned…

Faith tasted amazing, Buffy couldn’t even believe her own taste buds. It was like all of her senses were in overdrive. Her heart was beating wildly and she could hardly breathe because Faith kept grinding against her mouth and nose…

Buffy gasped and pressed her tongue against Faith’s clit and mercilessly teased it… Faith’s fingers gripped her hair and pulled hard, forcing her to look into her deep brown eyes…

“Fuck, B… Fuuuuck!”, Faith moaned and her free hand wrapped around blonde’s neck and squeezed lightly. The fire in Buffy’s eyes seemed to burn brighter, the naughty little thing enjoyed roughness.

Faith’s body trembled and Buffy decided it was time to let her fingers join the party… While sucking on the little bundle of nerves, Buffy pushed two fingers deep inside and grinned when Faith moaned loudly. Pushing and licking harder now that she felt Faith’s inner muscles wrap around her fingers, Buffy moaned and gasped when Faith pulled her hair and exploded in her mouth.

“Mmmm…”, Buffy moaned as she swallowed and licked the remaining juices away…

“Holy fuckin shit, B… I never imagined…”, Faith said and slumped down next to Buffy, trying to catch her breath. None of them cared that their pants were still pulled down.

“I can’t believe we just…”, Buffy whispered, breathing fast.

“Tell me about it…”, Faith agreed and pulled Buffy into a slow and gentle kiss.

“You were incredible…”, Buffy said when she broke the kiss.

“Oh, so were you. I’ve never cum so hard in my life.”, Faith said, and she’d had some really good sex in the past.

Buffy couldn’t help grinning smugly, she was kinda proud of herself. And she felt a bit silly when she felt her cheeks burn.

“You’re blushing? Seriously?”, Faith chuckled and lightly spanked her thigh. “You’re a total devil underneath this cute façade.”

Pulling her pants up, because she felt breeze on her still wet and hot pussy, Buffy said “You have no idea.”

Feeling entertained and more than fuckin hot, Faith also pulled up her pants and said “I’ll enjoy discovering just how naughty you are, Twinkie.”

“You’re in for quite a ride then, Faith…”, Buffy said cheekily and surprised Faith once again. They got up slowly, kissed passionately once again and headed back to 1630 Revello Drive. Their legs still felt a little shaky, and they caught each other’s hand and wrapped their fingers together.

A creature lurked in the shadows and watched them, feeling anger bubble inside.

 _You got a soul for this bitch and this is how she pays you back. Fuckin’ whore,_ Spike heard a voice and thought it were just his own thoughts but he could actually see himself standing a few feet away and grinning evilly. That was too strange, and Spike had to blink a few times. Deciding his mind was just playing tricks on him, the vampire walked away, feeling such blood lust, he just couldn’t ignore it…


	4. Unlikely Friendships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith and Willow meditate to an understanding

When Buffy awoke the next morning, Faith had already left. That wasn't a big surprise, and Buffy was actually a bit relieved. Now that she wasn't covered in the veil of the night, their little encounter seemed like a really bad idea. The world was in real trouble and Buffy didn't have time for romance... Ok, nothing about sex the previous night was romantic, but same difference. She felt warmth spread over her body when she re-winded it in her head, and she concluded it couldn't happen again. Buffy's logic wasn't always logical, but at that moment she didn't care. She needed to focus on the Big Bad and trouble ahead.

She picked up a notebook, wrote SEAL OF DANZAAA-SOMETHING and started framing it frantically while waiting for Giles to pick up his phone.

“Hello?”

“Giles… It’s me. I need your help. Sorry I’m calling so late…”

“Buffy… I’ve been meaning to call you, actually… Potential Slayers have been getting killed all over the world…”

“That’s part of the reason why I’m calling. I keep dreaming about girls getting killed, so I thought that maybe we should find them and bring them to Sunnydale. Faith, Willow and I would be able to protect them, at least a little.”

“Good plan, Buffy. I have details on them and I’ll arrange a search party. I’ll bring them to Sunnydale myself, as soon as I gather at least a handful. Did you say that Faith was there? Are you two getting along?”

Buffy almost chuckled when she thought about how well they got along the previous night, but she said “Yeah, we’re ok. We haven’t even fought, I just decked her once. Accidentally.”

Giles wasn’t sure it had been completely accidentally, and he smiled at the phone, but didn’t comment anything.

“Is there anything else you wanted? Is everyone ok? Dawn?”, Giles asked, and Buffy loved him for it. She was sure she could deal with whatever came at her as long as she had him.

“Oh, I almost forgot! There was something else I wanted to ask you about!”, Buffy exclaimed and picked up her notebook, looking at her scribble. “Does the Seal of Danza…something… ring any bells? It looks like an evil Goat with its tongue out?”, Buffy added, trying to be helpful.

Giles rubbed his tired eyes and tried to think, it sounded so familiar… But, he was too tired to think about it, it was almost three in the morning and he hadn’t had a wink of sleep.

“It does ring bells, but I’ll have to research a bit more and call you back later… As you would say, I am beat.”

Buffy could totally imagine him sitting there in yesterday’s wrinkled shirt, she’d seen him wake up on piles of books more times than she could count. A little smile danced on her lips, she suddenly felt such affection for him and really wanted to hug him.

“Sleep well, Giles. Night…”

“Bye, Buffy.”, Giles said and hanged up, muttering to himself “Seal of Danza...Danza what?”

° ° ° 

Another morning of waking up holding Buffy… Faith was feeling happy and terrified at the same time. She didn’t normally do cuddling. She would just kick people out after sex, and that was it.

But Buffy wasn’t people… She was the most amazing woman Faith had ever met… So, she was conflicted… _Besides,_ she thought _, we might all die soon, so what the hell? Maybe I shouldn’t think so much… Maybe I should just go with the flow and see what happens if I don’t run like my feet are on fire._

She was sitting in the kitchen after a hot shower had brought her to life, sipping coffee and eating a toast, when Buffy entered the kitchen and started pouring herself a cup of coffee… “Hey…”, she said, glancing at Faith before she grabbed a slice of toast and started spreading peanut butter on it.

“Morning…”, Faith said, shortly, she was never good at starting conversations she knew were doomed to be as awkward as hell.

“I’ve just talked to Giles. He said he’d start gathering up the Potentials, and he’d let me know as soon as he found out more about the Seal of… whatever it is.”, Buffy started with business talk straight away, to avoid the awkwardness and Faith was grateful for that.

“Good. So, now we just wait or you got a plan for tonight?”

“A patrol would be a good idea, but yeah, we can’t do much until Giles gets here with the girls. And I should go talk to Spike about Holden.”

Faith didn’t really like the idea of Buffy going to see Spike, she had so many questions about him and their relationship and she didn’t know how to ask them, so she just frowned and sipped her coffee.

“What are you frowning about?”, Buffy asked, she just couldn’t read Faith as much as she wanted to.

“I’m just a bit confused… Are you and Spike buddies? He got a soul cause he loved you?”, Faith decided to ask, to see if Buffy would be honest with her. And she still wanted to know what Dawn meant when she said he hurt her, she didn’t think Buffy would be crazy enough to tell Dawn about her wacky ‘relationship’ with the bleached vampire.

“I’ll answer that when we go patrolling tonight. I can’t talk about it here…”, she whispered and looked around, half expecting someone to burst in just because she thought about it.

“Ok, I’m holding on to that. Want me to come with?”

“Nah, I’ll be ok. I have to head to work in a bit, I’ll stop by shortly to ask just a few questions.”

Faith nodded, even though she didn’t like it one bit. “I’m going to work out a little, I’m afraid I’m a bit rusty. See you later.”

“Yeah… Later.”, Buffy said and sighed as she watched Faith walk downstairs to the basement. She didn’t know how to act around Faith, and Faith seemed to find it awkward, too, which was strange because she was usually so straight forward. She was expecting to be teased to no end, but she was also glad that it wasn’t the case…

She grabbed her car keys and drove away, slowly and carefully, cause she wasn’t the best driver, which is why she preferred it when Xander drove. But, Dawn had slept over at Kit’s and Xander had to go to a different direction, so she was forced to drive.

It was a good thing that Spike lived in the school’s basement, she didn’t have to make any extra stops to go talk to him.

° ° ° 

Faith pounded on the training sack, trying to throw out all the pent up negativity and confusion and all the feelings she had for Buffy, feelings she didn’t want, but couldn’t get rid of.

She couldn’t stop thinking about what it felt like to fuck her, and it was driving her crazy… She wanted more, she needed to find out just how naughty the little cutie was…

And just how naughty she had been with Spike.

Then she remembered Buffy was supposed to be with him at that moment, and she started kicking and punching harder…

“Hey, Faith. You ok? I heard chains rattling, thought I’d come check who was so worked up.”, Willow asked and sat on the stairs, holding her laptop in one hand.

“Got pent up energy. Couldn’t really do this in prison. And the LA action wasn’t enough.”, Faith half-lied, she couldn’t tell Willow that she was too confused and jealous and horny to be ok.

“I can imagine. I don’t do well with this way of fighting, so can’t help you. But, if you’d like to meditate to calm down, I can help with that.”

“That actually sounds like a great idea.”, Faith smiled and Willow noticed her dimples were quite adorable, she’d never thought about Faith that way before and she was quite sure that Faith wouldn’t appreciate being called adorable.

“Let me just get a few scented candles. They always help me relax.”

“Hey, Red…”, Faith said when Willow started walking upstairs. She turned to look at Faith questioningly. “I’m sorry about Tara.”

“Thank you.”, Willow said, feeling a huge lump in her throat. She still couldn’t think about Tara without her heart breaking all over again.

° ° °

“Spike?”, Buffy called out when she entered the basement. She couldn’t help noticing the evil Goat… It was so creepy it made hairs on her arms stand up. That wasn’t good…

“Spike?”, she repeated, a bit louder, and jumped a little when he got out of the tunnel and started laughing about something.

“Here she comes, looking for favors… I see double and I hear things here… Bad things. From beneath you, it devours.”, he repeated the not so friendly jingle Buffy had heard a few times before.

“Bad things? Can you tell me more about it?”, Buffy asked, her voice low and patient, like she was talking to a child.

“Nope, don’t know a thing… Can’t say a thing…”, Spike said and shook his head, as if trying to ignore someone else talking.

“Spike, listen to me… Have you been hearing or seeing stuff? I’ve figured it out, it’s the First Evil… It almost made Angel kill himself, you gotta fight it ok?”

“First Evil.”, Spike said, sounding astonished… Like something just clicked in his mind.

“Yes… Do you know something about it? Do you know a guy called Holden Webster?”

“First Evil is bad, bad… From beneath you…”

“Yes, I know, it devours… Spike, do you know Holden Webster?”

“Hmm, no, never heard that name… Should I know him?”, Spike asked, now sounding a bit more awake and less crazy.

“He’s my old classmate, and he told me you’d sired him.”

Spike burst out laughing… “Sired him!? Of course you’re gonna come here accusing me of killing people after I got a bleeding soul… Get out!”

“So, you didn’t do it?”, Buffy asked once again, but ducked and walked away when Spike threw a stone her way, looking hurt and enraged. She didn’t know what to think, and she didn’t know that Spike was even more confused. At that moment, he saw another version of Buffy looking at him with a sly smile on her face, taunting him about everything he’d done to all of his victims.

Now that he knew they were dealing with the First Evil, he tried to shut the evil Buffy out, but it wasn’t working, she knew how to get to him…

° ° °

Faith couldn’t remember if she’d ever felt as calm and peaceful as she was at that moment, while meditating with Willow… They held hands and she felt like she was floating. Like, literally floating, not just figuratively. She was tempted to open her eyes, but she decided not to.

Floating or not, it felt so good…

She felt like she dived into all the bad stuff, holding her breath, and when she dived out, she was clean and free of all the negativity, finally able to breathe properly.

Her breathing was even, like she was sleeping… but without any bad dreams to haunt her.

She lost sense of space and time and couldn’t even try to guess how long they were meditating, until she heard Willow’s voice bring her out of it.

“How are you feeling now?”

After taking a deep breath, Faith opened her eyes and looked around… “Wow, this was great. I feel like a new person.”

“That’s good. Means it worked.”, Willow smiled, she couldn’t believe that Faith actually opened up her mind and heart enough for it to work. She was proud of her.

“Thanks, Red. I really needed this. If you need any kickboxing training, I can help with that.”, Faith smiled as she stretched a little.

“Oh, fighting and I don’t mix… But I might take you up on that offer cause using magic might send me to a very bad place again, and I’m very anxious about it… How am I supposed to help Buffy fight this Big Bad if the most innocent spell I try can go completely wrong?”

“I heard you’d gone Dark… I know what it’s like…”

“You never flayed a guy, Faith. And I was so quick to judge you. I’m sorry.”

When Willow apologized, Faith wondered if she’d read her mind cause she’d thought something very similar the previous day…

“We’re five by five. I didn’t exactly give you reasons to like me, I held a knife on your throat and all…”, Faith said, apologizing in her own way.

“In this house, we’re not friends if we haven’t tried to kill each other at least once.”, Willow gave her a little smile and told her the story of when Buffy thought she was in a mental institution and almost killed them all.

“I don’t think any fantasy authors would be able to come up with a story that cuckoo if they tried.”, Faith grinned and realized that she felt quite comfortable in Willow’s company.

“I know, right??”, Willow agreed and smiled, and then she also thought that she’d never imagined herself hanging with Faith like that. It always seemed to her that Faith had had time and eyes just for Buffy, and she decided to ask her more about it soon. She didn’t wanna scare her away with big questions straight away.


	5. New Houseguests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wild Potentials Appear lol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to apologize for posting late this week, but I'll make up for it with 2 chapters at once! Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Buffy returned home from work holding three XXL size pizzas, she was aware that Faith's appetite was as healthy as her own, and she figured one would be enough for Willow and Dawn. What she wasn't expecting were three other girls, whose names she didn't know.

Willow, Faith, Dawn and the three girls were sitting on the floor and playing Scrabble and Buffy stopped in her tracks and said “Hello… I’ve brought pizza… Didn’t know we had guests.”

“Oh, Buffy, Giles sent these girls to us, they are Potential Slayers. He couldn’t come, but he sent one of the witches from the coven I spent time with in England, I can’t believe she’s actually here! I’m totally geeking out, Althenea is the best witch I’ve ever met and I could learn so much from her! Can’t wait for you to meet her, you’re gonna love her!”, Willow forgot to breathe while rambling, and Buffy thought it was adorable, the Willow she loved was the cutest babbler ever, and that Willow hasn’t peeked out since Tara’s death- not till that moment.

“Can’t wait to meet her if she’s so awesome. Hey, guys.”, Buffy sat down next to Dawn and opened pizza boxes. “I’m…”

“Buffy. We know everything about you. You’re like Enyo, the Goddess of War, only you know, your aim is not to let war happen. I’m Molly.”, a cute girl with the British accent said, and Buffy had to smile.

“I just thought you’d be taller… I’m Kennedy.”, said a brunette girl, who scanned Buffy up and down and made her feel a bit uncomfortable.

“I still keep thinking this is all a big mistake. I’m too gentle to fight demons. I was supposed to be a writer, not a warrior. I’m Annabelle.”, a very neat young woman said, and Buffy had to smile.

She knew what it was like to be thrown into this dark world no one sane would wanna be a part of, and left to fight your way through… She just wanted to be a normal girl, with normal problems, like who to date and what to wear and then suddenly it was what to kill and who to save.

“Nice to meet you all. As you can see, I wasn’t prepared to meet you just yet, but we’ll sort something out… First, sleeping arrangements… and then we can go for a walk, so I can show you around Sunnydale… Especially…”

“The Bronze?”, Faith suggested and grabbed another pizza slice.

“… the twelve cemeteries. But, yeah, we could fit in the Bronze too.”, Buffy agreed when she saw a disappointed pout on Faith’s face.

“Yes!”, Faith high fived Buffy, who had to admit that hanging out at the Bronze wasn’t the worst idea. She wanted the girls to have at least a bit of fun before they die. She didn’t wanna be that pessimistic, but she couldn’t help wondering if anyone at all would make it out alive. A part of her thought that if she died the third time, she wouldn’t be brought back anymore.

“Did you say TWELVE cemeteries?”, Kennedy exclaimed, surprised, “I thought this was a small town, one Starbucks and one cemetery.”

“Sadly, there is just one Starbucks.”, Buffy shrugged, disappointed.

“Thank goodness you make enough coffee to serve half of Sunnydale in the morning.”, Faith teased and Buffy shot back “Thank goodness I do, cause you make just enough for two cups and I drink at least three myself.”

They exchanged glances and Kennedy looked at them curiously. There were sparkles flying between those two and she wondered if anything ever happened between them…

“Coffee making is your duty then, B.”

“Only if pancakes are your duty.”

“Fine by me. I make wicked pancakes.”

“Guys! You sound like an old couple… I think we were gonna have to discuss sleeping arrangements?”, Dawn pointed out and lifted her eyebrow. Just like Kennedy, she also noticed some sparkage between the Slayers. “I guess I can safely assume that you two will continue sharing your room?”, Dawn looked at Buffy, who squirmed a little, it felt like Dawn was trying to read her mind.

Faith grinned at Buffy “B is a good roommate; she doesn’t snore…”

“Yay me… Well… Uh, Willow, I assume Althenea is gonna sleep with you.”, Buffy looked at her beaming friend, who just nodded. “Dawn? Willing to accept a roommate?”

“Sure, no problem. I’m all up for helping the Potential guys.”

“Good. Thank you. Ok, so, umm, Kennedy… you ok with sharing the room with Dawn?”, Buffy asked, totally oblivious to the fact that Kennedy was hoping she would get to share the bed with the younger Summers girl. Dawn was gorgeous according to the very gay measures in Kennedy’s head.

“Yeah, sounds great. Thanks, Dawn.”, Kennedy smiled and was happy when Dawn smiled back, it made her look even more adorable.

“Molly, Annabelle, you have the couch. I don’t know how many more girls will arrive, but I assume at least a handful more, and we’ll have to make room for the newcomers… It won’t be as comfy as Hilton hotels, but I think we’re safer together.”, Buffy concluded.

Knocking on the door made Willow jump and she ran to open it. “Althenea, hi… Come in… You haven’t met Buffy…”

Buffy’s breath hitched when she saw Althenea… She was probably about thirty years old, with burning red hair and green eyes that looked so big on her pale face… She had an hour glass body, which was perfect for the green dress she was wearing…. She was wearing light make up, just a bit of pink lip gloss and green shade around her eyes, which accentuated them more.

“Uh, hey… It’s nice to finally meet you. Heard a lot about you.”, Buffy said, unable to look away from the gorgeous woman who caught her hand to shake it, and Buffy kinda forgot to let go of it.

“You’re famous in our world, Miss Summers. It’s an honor to meet you.”

“Umm, call me Buffy.”

“Ok… Buffy.”, Althenea smiled and followed Willow to the living room.

Faith noticed Buffy’s reaction to the woman and narrowed her eyes, feeling a bit jealous.

“Cool, the meeting is finished, you guys take your bags to Dusk’s room and then we can go out and kick some undead booty.”, Faith instructed and punched her fist against her palm.

“I thought we were just observing?”, Annabelle asked, looking anxious.

“We are. We can’t fight yet… Can we?”, Molly asked, her eyes widening.

“You’re not gonna fight. But Faith and I might if we bump into vamps, they tend to hang around cemeteries.”, Buffy said to calm the girls down.

“I wouldn’t mind slaying! I know how to use a crossbow.”, Kennedy said and grinned, pleased with herself cause she was obviously the only one who wasn’t a complete chicken.

“Good, that’s… helpful. Have you been trained before?”, Buffy asked, feeling hopeful, because she didn’t know how she’d manage teaching all the girls how to fight and stay alive.

“Yes. I’ve been training with my Watcher, Sidney Thomas. Mr. Giles knows her.”

“A female Watcher. Cool. I wanna be one. I’ve been doing a lot of research lately and Giles said I had potential.”, Dawn smiled, feeling pleased with herself because sadly she had no potential to be one of the next generation of Slayers, but being a Watcher was the next best thing… Plus, it was much safer.

“Go for it, Dawn, I’m sure you’re gonna excel at the job…”, Kennedy said and Dawn practically beamed. She hardly ever felt useful and recognized, everything always revolved around Buffy. Kennedy believed she could make it and it felt good.

Faith, who was more observant than people gave her credit for, had noticed how Kennedy had scanned Buffy earlier and she was doing the same to Dawn now… That girl was so totally gay; Faith could have bet her own ass on it. She wondered how Buffy would react if her little sis got seduced by another girl.

“I’m going to take a few stakes and a crossbow for Kennedy and I’ll be right back.”, Buffy announced and Faith wanted to follow her upstairs, but decided against it. She didn’t wanna raise suspicions yet.

“Awesome!”, Kennedy did her best not to jump in excitement, she felt flattered because Buffy trusted her enough to give her a crossbow. She figured the Slayer wanted to test her, and she promised herself she’d pass the test with flying colors.

When Buffy returned, her hands full of stakes and crosses, and her crossbow on her back, they were ready to get going.

“Let’s see those cemeteries then.”, Kennedy said, sounding too excited as she took the crossbow from Buffy.

“Yay.”, Faith said, sarcastically. She couldn’t wait to get to the Bronze.


	6. Bronze for Sychronization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some sexy sparring and Bronzeing

Patrolling actually turned out to be quite fun, especially for Faith, who was itching for some real action. As soon as they got to the Restfield cemetery, Buffy spotted two vampires casually strolling, and thought it would be great to ruin the chill out night they were having.

She signaled Faith to attack and when she nodded, two Slayers ambushed the surprised duo and started pounding on them.

Kennedy took out her phone and started recording them.

“Check them out. Synchronized slaying!”, Kennedy whispered, unable to look away. She’d never seen anything that magnificent in her life. Those two were a force of nature, kicking and punching like they were two very deadly ballerinas.

“Wow.”, Molly and Annabelle said at once.

“I’ve seen Buffy slay many times before, but never like this…”, Willow whispered to Althenea and Dawn, who wholeheartedly agreed. Slaying seemed so easy as they watched two professionals do it.

The Chosen Two slayed their vampire at almost the same second, and grinned at each other. Scenes of the previous night passed through their heads and they both thought about kissing passionately, but they couldn’t do it in front of the audience so Buffy cleared her throat and said

“Demonstration is the best way to learn and these two really showed up at the right moment.”

“Next gen, have you ever fought or sparred with anyone?”, Faith asked and wasn’t surprised when only Kennedy said she’d sparred with her Watcher a few times.

“Would you guys mind showing us what sparring is like when done by real Slayers?”, Molly asked and Faith chuckled “Real Slayers. One would think we’re Santa Claus or something.”

“Santa Claus is real, you know! Anya said…”, Dawn started talking excitedly, but Buffy had to cut her off. Teaching the newbies was way more important than Santa, who apparently disemboweled children. Buffy had had a few nightmares about that story, but she never would have admitted it to anyone.

“Ok, then, Faith, wanna fight me?”

“Oh, I’ll kick your ass…”, Faith said, grinning and staring into Buffy’s eyes. She didn’t wanna KICK Buffy’s ass, she wanted to spank it… and… do many other things to it. She started getting warm all over, and it made her distracted, so Buffy’s first round kick sent her flying.

“Damn, Faith, you’re really rusty…”

“I’ll show you rusty, blondie. That was a lucky strike.”, Faith shot back and started attacking.

“This is so hot.”, Kennedy said, biting her lip slowly.

“I gotta agree with you there…”, Willow whispered. Suddenly she felt like she was a voyeur even though they were fully dressed and were doing something pretty much opposite from sex… Technically.

“Got ya, blondie!”, Faith grabbed Buffy around the throat, but Buffy managed to head butt her and flip her over her shoulder.

Faith’s ass hit the ground pretty hard, and the brunette winced, but then she used her legs to pull Buffy down, right on top of her.

Buffy grabbed her arms and placed them above Faith’s head, and stared into those chocolatey eyes for a moment, and Faith pushed her leg in between Buffy’s legs, which made the blonde jump and let go of her hands. The next second, Faith was straddling her, grinning victoriously as she held her arms tightly…

“You’re playing dirty, F.”, Buffy whispered and felt butterflies when Faith whispered “Not yet, but I will… Very dirty.”

“Willow, I’m no expert, but I see some serious sparkage here. I’m not imagining it, right?”, Dawn asked, and nodded thoughtfully when all three Potentials and Willow said “No, you’re definitely not imagining it…”

Althenea observed them curiously, but she was the only one admiring their flexibility and muscles, she was apparently unaware of the sexual tension.

“Questions, comments?”, Buffy asked when Faith pulled her up to her feet. Her heart was beating faster than usually…

“Are you two having sex? If not, you should start.”, Kennedy said, boldly, which earned her amazed looks from everyone but Buffy and Faith. Buffy pffted it off, a little red in the face, and Faith, who thought she was too cool to blush and make up excuses, glared at Kennedy and said

“Get down, twenty push-ups for stupid questions.”

Buffy and Kennedy both gave her incredulous looks, but Kennedy wanted to deck her, and Buffy wanted to kiss her.

“Are you being serious?”, Kennedy asked.

“Deadly serious. Gimme thirty now, Junior.”

“Wow, you’re not messing around…”, Buffy smiled approvingly and counted Kennedy’s push-ups.

“Of course not. I’m a General now too. And I’m kinda loving it.”, Faith winked at Buffy, who wished she’d stop doing that because every time Faith winked or smiled, her stomach started doing somersaults.

Kennedy looked a bit grumpy when she got back on her feet, and followed the two Slayers who walked a few steps before everyone else, on their way to the Bronze.

“I kinda thought Buffy would be the bossy one.”, Kennedy admitted and Dawn chuckled “Oh she is bossy, all right. But I think she’s also teaching Faith how to take the lead.”

“Is that what you’re doing? I’m good at taking the lead.”, Faith whispered to Buffy, who just smiled and nudged her with an elbow gently.

 _There is definitely something going on between them…,_ Willow, Dawn and Kennedy thought at the same time, while Molly and Annabelle were busy discussing all the amazing moves they were sure they’d never manage to pull off.

It was Friday night and The Bronze was packed with people.

“Oh, hey, Xander… and Anya!”, Willow waved, unsure if she was happy to see them there, together, or not. Anya was human again, and she wondered if they’ve decided to rekindle their relationship. That probably wasn’t the best idea, but then she thought she shouldn’t judge them… If they would be happy, it would be all worth it.

_I don’t really deserve happiness after flaying Warren alive, but I hope I’ll get some… Althenea is not Tara, but she’s so amazing…_

“Hey guys! Let me go get you all drinks….”, Xander said, and glanced at the three new girls, wondering who they were. He figured they were Dawn’s friends.

“Just so you know, we’re not having sex again. We just thought it would be good to finally talk about everything.”, Anya explained and sipped her cocktail.

“Good for you… How have you been?”, Buffy asked, feeling bad when she remembered that she’d stabbed Anya in the chest just a few weeks ago.

“Still trying to get accustomed to everything, but I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. I’m a strong woman who knows what she wants and how to get it.”

“Have you been reading those motivational books?”, Willow asked, because she couldn’t imagine Anya read anything except for demonology books they often needed for research.

“Tell no one. How come little Summers is here? And… Faith?”, Anya frowned, who’d seen her briefly when she’d changed bodies with Buffy, but also on many WANTED posters that had been around Sunnydale at that time.

“Yup, that’s me. And these are the Potential guys. I guess if I drop, one of them is Called.”, Faith said matter-of-factly.

“Wouldn’t Buffy’s death activate us?”, asked Kennedy.

“I’ve already activated one Slayer, so I’m out of commission. No one got Called when I died fighting Glory, remember?”, Buffy shrugged.

“Good point. So, Faith, you’re the line carrier. No pressure, though.”, Anya said and sipped her drink slowly.

Xander returned with drinks and soon they were all chatting and laughing, Xander was good at telling embarrassing stories from his past, there were so many to choose from…

“Come on, guys, aren’t we gonna dance a bit?”, Kennedy asked, wishing Buffy and Faith would go dance, so she could confirm her ‘they’ve had sex’ theory. It seemed that Buffy was onto her plan, cause she said “You go ahead, guys, I’ll just chill… God knows when I’ll manage to afford this luxury again.”

“B, don’t be a party pooper. Who knows when you’ll manage to dance again. If ever!”, Faith clinked her glass against Buffy’s and looked into her eyes.

“Nooo, I don’t feel like dancing… Nooo!”, Buffy pouted, but Faith caught her hand and pulled her to the dancefloor, there was no saying no to dancing…

They all moved to the dancefloor, and both Faith and Kennedy were annoyed because Buffy kept dancing close to Xander and Dawn, and some college studs quickly surrounded her. Of course, Faith knew how to attract guys as well, and she loved seeing the annoyed look on Buffy’s face as she grinded against two of them at the same time.

When the song ended, Buffy scooted over to Faith and yelled in her ear “I’m going to sit down, you have fun…” She sounded so passive aggressive, Faith just had to laugh…

“Jealous, blondie?”, she teased, and Buffy rolled her eyes and walked away. Faith was gonna ask Kennedy to dance with her, but then she noticed Spike leaning on the billiard table and sipping a beer, and she changed her mind. He was too close to Buffy and she didn’t want him to get any closer.

“What, giving up already?”, Dawn teased Faith, she knew she would have danced more if Buffy had stayed. Then she noticed Spike and wondered if he’d taken her threat about waking up on fire seriously enough.

Faith didn’t bother to reply to her, her eyes narrowed because Spike was looking at Buffy and it looked like he was contemplating going over to her. When he saw Faith approach her, he got so angry his face started changing. He shook his head, he didn’t wanna attract attention… He remembered he was on a prowl and he wouldn’t let Buffy ruin it for him. Women loved him, and the bitch would realize what she’d lost…

“Who’s the bleached guy? He keeps staring at you two.”, Molly commented as she sipped on her Seven Up.

“He’s, uh, an ally. A vampire with a soul.”, Buffy said and the three Potentials looked at her in awe. “Angelus?”, Kennedy asked.

“No, Spike. But, I approve, you’ve done your homework.”, Buffy smiled.

“If we were in Hogwarts, you’d get ten points for Gryffindor.”, Dawn smiled at Kennedy, who actually understood the reference and said “Awesome. That’s the house I’m sorted in, actually. I bet you’re Ravenclaw.”

“Yeah! And, Hermione is my role model!”

“What on Earth is a Ravenclaw and… Gryffin-thing?”, Faith frowned, she wasn’t a big fan of books. She’d read some in jail, but mostly non-fiction or dead rockers’ biographies. She’d actually graduated High School while in jail, but she wasn’t one to brag about it.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I said to Buffy a few years ago: Geez, crack a book sometime!”

“Those are Hogwarts Houses, from Harry Potter.”, Buffy explained and got defensive when Dawn glared at her “Whaaat, I watched first two movies last year!”

“She doesn’t know what she’s saying…”, Kennedy grinned at Dawn, who looked like she was ready to attack.

“Nerds.”, Faith concluded and chugged her JD. She was pleased to see Spike walking away. Buffy also looked relieved and Faith didn’t think she’d be able to contain her curiosity much longer.

Willow, Xander and Anya were still dancing, or well, moving from one foot to another and laughing about something and Buffy was happy to see them laugh. At one point she didn’t think any of them would ever even smile again.

Maybe this First Evil would turn out to be just Kinda Naughty, maybe they all still had a happy ending in store.

She glanced at Faith and wondered if their… whatever it was, would turn into a relationship. She seriously doubted it, Faith wasn’t the dating type… _and I don’t date women,_ she thought quickly, but in her heart of hearts she thought that maybe she wouldn’t mind dating Faith.

“Penny for your thoughts?”, Faith asked her, smiling.

“If you offered a million, maybe…”, Buffy smiled and gently brushed Faith’s hand with her fingers, which sent jolts through Faith’s body.

They quickly looked away and concentrated on chatting with the rest of the Gang. It was getting late and they started walking home, each of them lost in their own thoughts…


	7. More, Now, Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Potentials, more Fuffy love and more info and more trigger work

It was five in the morning in England, and Giles was already awake, sipping his Typhoo tea with milk and going through a huge pile of books trying to find information on the Seal of Danzalthar. It wasn't the easiest task because a Goat with its tongue out was a common symbol of the Devil. He’d spent the majority of the previous day and evening researching and he’d barely had four hours of sleep, but Rupert Giles wasn’t the slacker type. This was the matter of the Apocalypse and he figured the fate of the world was more important than his sleep.

He tried to call Buffy, to see if she could remember any other detail, but she wasn’t picking up her cellphone. He assumed that she was asleep, but the truth was she was dancing with her friends and had forgotten her cell phone at home.

 _It can wait, it’s not like I’m making any progress anyway…,_ Giles thought and ran his fingers through his hair.

° ° °

Since she was the Lady of the House, Buffy was the first in row for a shower when they got home from the Bronze. It felt amazing, and ten minutes of utter bliss wasn’t enough, but there were eight women at the Summers’ house now, and soon the number would double, which would automatically decrease minutes of shower time.

Faith was already waiting in front of the door when Buffy got out. “It was about time. I contemplated breaking down the door.”, Faith teased, and Buffy was suddenly glad there had been no time to do anything of the naughty variety in the shower.

“If you’d done that, I would have broken your nose.”, Buffy grinned and headed to her bedroom. She was wearing her old Sunnydale High t-shirt and tiny shorts and she covered herself and lay on her side, waiting for Faith to come to bed. Of course, she didn’t mean anything by it, it wasn’t like they were gonna have sex, or that they had any relationship… She just liked to sleep in Faith’s arms…

° ° °

Dawn, Kennedy, Molly and Annabelle were sitting in the living room and watching a movie that had just started, ‘Jeepers Creepers’ from 2001.

They had a bunch of snacks and lemonade and were looking forward to a silly horror and gossiping about their favorite celebrities. Dawn was grateful she had company of girls her own age whom she shared common interests with. Buffy could never really appreciate her geeky ramblings about her favorite books and movies, Janice had moved to Los Angeles before school started and she was just starting to develop friendships with Kit and Carlos, who were pretty cool.

° ° °

For the first time since Tara died, another woman was gonna share Willow’s bed. Nothing naughty would happen, of course, Althenea didn’t see her that way as far as Willow knew, but she wouldn’t be alone in bed.

She missed Tara’s warmth and cuddles, and the bed was so huge and cold without her… Oh, Tara… It still hurt so badly, and Willow didn’t think it would ever stop hurting…

“Are you ok?”, Althenea asked, she was brushing her hair and she noticed the sad expression on Willow’s face.

“Yeah… it’s just… I miss Tara. Especially at night. I used to sleep like a baby in her arms and now I keep waking up… I often dream of her… She goes from happy to… d…”

She couldn’t say ‘dead’, and her eyes filled with tears. She swallowed hard and said “Shower’s stopped running… I’ll feel better after a hot shower.”

“Take your time, Willow.”, Althenea said, she wished she could help her ease the pain, it was breaking her heart to see so much hurt on Willow’s face… She just didn’t know how to do it…

° ° °

“Hey…”, Buffy whispered when Faith entered the bedroom.

“B… Can you answer my questions about Spike now? Are you two buddies? Is he in love with you? Do you feel anything for him?”

Buffy sighed, she was hoping Faith had forgotten about that particular conversation, but she had no such luck, of course.

It was like someone pulled a veil over Buffy’s eyes when she started talking. The only person she’d told these things had been Tara and she didn’t think she’d ever have to say them aloud again. Again, no such luck.

Her voice started breaking as she was trying to describe what it felt like to be brought back from the dead, and Faith wanted to kill the Scoobies for putting Buffy through it, as happy as she was to have her back now.

Faith knew a thing or two about depression, loneliness and (self) destructive behavior, so she couldn’t really judge Buffy when she got to the part where she was having sex with Spike, as jealous as she was feeling when Buffy described how she’d let him take her over and how she’d hurt him and asked him to hurt her just a bit more…

Tears of shame and pain ran down her face when she told Faith about the assault in the bathroom… Faith pulled her into a tight hug and said “One word and the son of a bitch is dust, B. One word.”

Sadly, Faith also knew what it felt like to be sexually assaulted and she wouldn’t have wished it on her worst enemy. Anger made her blood boil, she didn’t know how she’d be able to stop herself from cutting Spike’s damn head off next time she saw him.

Buffy looked into Faith’s eyes, her green eyes full of tears, and Faith kissed her gently. Those full lips were finally kissing her, and Buffy felt tension leave her body… They kissed until they couldn’t catch a proper breath and in the meantime their t-shirts had flown to the floor. None of them wore a bra and before they knew what was happening, their tongues and fingers were in action, touching and tasting every bit of skin they could reach…

“Faith… what is happening? What is this?”, Buffy whispered when they finished and she cuddled up to the gorgeous brunette.

“I don’t know… Does it have to be labeled?”, Faith asked and kissed the top of Buffy’s head.

“No, it doesn’t… Whatever this is, it feels right.”

“Yeah, it does.”, Faith agreed. Nothing had ever felt that right in Faith’s entire life. She didn’t think she was built for feelings and relationships, but since this had no label yet, it was quite alright… even labeling it wouldn’t make it less right… But, for that moment, Faith wanted to think they were fuck buddies.

° ° °

“Hello?”, Willow answered the phone and her brow furrowed when she heard urgency and worry in Giles’ voice. He definitely wasn’t up for chit chat, he wanted Buffy on the phone, but she’d gone out for groceries shopping, while Faith was training in the basement with the Potentials. She wanted to help as much as possible so Buffy wouldn’t have to do it all on her own.

“Buffy asked me to do research on the Seal of Danzalthar, I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.”

“Online search came up with zero results. Zilch. That doesn’t happen often.”

“It’s… sort of a portal… that can be opened using blood… I don’t know exactly how much blood is needed to open it, or if it can be animal blood, too. I assume it’s preferably human blood. Anyhow, blood opens it and once it stops flowing, it closes. But, the fact that it’s closed doesn’t mean it still can’t affect people who come to its vicinity. I imagine they get possessed, and feel urged to do something evil. If a person stays corrupted for a longer period of time, it’s most likely that they would become servants of The First.”, Giles said and sipped his tea, but somehow it didn’t feel as soothing as usually.

“Can it be closed closed, permanently?”, Willow asked, hoping he’d say yes because this all sounded really bad. It looked like the Hellmouth meant business and it was bad.

“This bit is a bit vague. Seems it can, by the person who had originally opened it.”

“You mean… by spilling blood of the person?”

“It’s not clear, but most likely. I will have to dig a little more, but blood is what usually works in cases like this.”

“Wish it could be tears or something…”

“Tears. Hmm… Interesting idea. Hmm.”

The doorbell rang and Althenea opened it and led three more Potential Slayers inside.

“Uh, Giles, three more Potentials have just arrived… I’m gonna have to call you back.”, Willow said and wondered if it would have been a really hard task for the Council to let them know when more girls would pop up. It wasn’t like they owned a hotel and had a hundred rooms at their disposal.

“I haven’t been notified… All right, Willow, talk later. Take care.”, Giles said and Willow hanged up and greeted the newcomers.

° ° °

“Caridad.”, a cute Spanish girl with beautiful doe like brown eyes, introduced herself.

“Violet. You can call me Vi.”, said the geeky looking girl with a colorful woolen hat on her head.

“Chloe.”, a cute girl with the Winnie the Pooh t-shirt said.

Buffy, Faith, Dawn and the rest of the Potentials introduced themselves, and since Willow and Althenea had already been through that, they went to the kitchen to make some coffee.

“I didn’t know you were coming. Who picked you up and brought you here?”, Buffy asked, and tried not to show just how worried she was about all of them and everything this little gathering signified.

“Quentin Travers. He didn’t think you’d wanna see him, so he made himself scarce.”

“Wow, didn’t think that pompous jerk ever did anything himself.”, Buffy was surprised to hear Willow say that, but she couldn’t agree more. He was the type who bossed people around and sat in his chair trying to decide how to play with people’s lives without them noticing anything at first.

“You took those words right out of my mouth…”, Buffy curled her lips into a little smile and started pacing.

“You ok, B?”, Faith asked, she noticed Buffy was worried.

“I’ve just been groceries shopping, and now I don’t think I’ve bought enough for all of us. I have a part time job and earn barely enough for me and Dawn, I don’t know how I’m gonna feed all these girls.”

“We have our pocket money… It’s not much, but we hope we won’t have to stay here too long. We will get to go home soon, right?”, Caridad asked, and worry in her voice made her look like a doe even more.

“Yeah, this shouldn’t take too long.”, Buffy gave her a calming smile, but she wondered if even half of these young women would even survive this fight. They had no powers to fight with, if they were caught by the Bringers, they were easy prey. Buffy would have liked to believe that Faith, Willow, Althenea and herself were powerful enough to keep the girls alive, but she wasn’t sure of anything. With every passing moment, she felt as lost as all these Potentials she was supposed to be protecting.

“I wish I could take you to my house. One of its wings would be able to fit us all comfortably. Soon we’re gonna be sleeping piled up on each other if this continues…”, Kennedy said, and everybody looked at her, surprised.

“Your house has WINGS?”, Dawn asked, looking mesmerized.

“You must be loaded… we could all go to a hotel or something.”, Annabelle suggested.

“I can’t access my money until I’m twenty-one. Now I just hope I’ll live to see it happen.”, Kennedy sighed and Buffy felt sorry for her. That girl should have been enjoying her amazing life in a huge house that had wings, drinking Margaritas and doing whatever it was the rich people were doing, but she had to come to this stupid little town, probably to get killed.

“I’ll do everything in my power to keep you alive.”, Buffy promised, earnestly, and she just hoped that everything in her power would be good enough to fulfill that promise.

° ° °

“Hello, gorgeous…”, Spike approached a woman in the Bronze, she looked a lot like Buffy and since he couldn’t have the real deal, he figured a cheap copy would do.

“Hello…”, she said, smiling flirtatiously. She let him buy her a drink, and after a bit of chit chat, the pair left the club and soon they were making out in the back alley.

The girl was almost as naughty as Buffy herself had been, she went straight for the zipper on his black jeans. He toyed with the idea of actually having sex with her, but he was too hungry… He hummed a melody, pushed her against the wall and sank his fangs into her neck. He held a hand over her mouth as he drank her… She was so warm and tasty and he finally felt like a vampire… Still humming the melody, he caught her in his arms and took her to his little graveyard, and buried her next to his other victims.

Then he walked back to the Sunnydale High basement, and once he got there, he completely forgot about what he’d just done. He just crawled into his bed and fell asleep, feeling very warm and full, but he didn’t know why and didn’t really give it a lot of thought…

He just needed to rest a little.


	8. Early One Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy realizes that Spike is a big threat. Can she slay him?

It was Buffy's turn to sneak out of bed. She looked at Faith, who was absolutely beautiful, in her humble opinion, slowly ran her fingers through those brown locks of hair and got out of bed. She put on jeans and a black t-shirt that had a funny writing on: I THINK MY GUARDIAN A N G E L DRINKS.

It was a gift from Dawn, who thought the pun was too hilarious to ignore. Besides, Buffy thought it was funny too, it sure was appropriate since she was constantly in trouble. There was a very obvious Angel connection too. She brushed her teeth and quietly walked downstairs, hoping to have a cup of coffee on her own since it was just seven o’clock. No such luck.

Dawn had gotten up to get ready for school, Kennedy got up because she was Dawn’s roommate. Molly and Annabelle who slept on the couch, got up when they heard Dawn and Kennedy walk around the kitchen. The three new girls were sleeping in the basement, unbothered by the commotion upstairs.

“Hey, Buffy! I’ve made coffee!” Dawn said, sounding way too chirpy for early morning.

“Thanks, Dawnie.” Buffy said and grabbed a cup, and Dawn just nodded cause she’d just stuffed her mouth with her favorite Sugar Puffs cereal.

Annabelle, who was kinda like the mother bear of the Little Slayer tribe, was making pancakes and humming along Sugababes and their ‘Freak Like Me’. Buffy thought it was an appropriate song.

“How cool is your shirt?” Dawn grinned and Buffy smirked “You’re saying that cause it was a gift from you.” She sipped her coffee and added after a beat “I do love it a lot.”

“Faith’s still asleep?” Kennedy asked, a little naughty grin dancing on her lips. Dawn’s room was across the hall from Buffy’s and she could have sworn that she’d heard quiet moans coming from Buffy’s room the previous night.

“Yeah…” Buffy said, not meeting Kennedy’s gaze.

Molly was busy reading newspapers and drinking coffee, she missed the whole conversation and commented “Gosh, many young people disappear here in Sunnydale.”

“What? Let me see.” Buffy said and grabbed the newspaper. “Eight. Six girls and two guys.” Buffy said, her voice quiet and worried. _Is it three guys? Do I count Holden, who was buried and… dusted?_

“Did you know them?” Dawn asked, Buffy looked so concerned and unable to stop looking at their photos.

“No, but they look like they’re not much older than you. Do YOU recognize any of them?”

Dawn chewed her pancake and skimmed trough the photos. She also frowned, looking troubled.

“What is it?” Buffy asked, Dawn’s silence and seriousness were quite disconcerting.

“Buffy… I don’t know any of them, but don’t you think that… that they look a bit like you?”

Kennedy, Annabelle and Molly leaned over Buffy’s shoulder to look at the photos. “Yeah, they kinda do… Know any serial killers that might be obsessed with you?” Kennedy joked, but Buffy and Dawn’s eyes met and they both said “Spike.”

“You weren’t meant to answer that, you know. Damn.”

There was no time to waste. Buffy thought she might have wasted quite enough of it already. Her shift wasn’t starting till nine o’ clock but she decided to give Dawn a lift and visit Spike. This time she didn’t wanna do it alone, so she ran upstairs, feeling bad because she had to awaken Faith. When she entered the room, Faith was just starting to open her eyes and she stretched a little.

“What’s wrong?” she croaked when she noticed the look on Buffy’s face.

“I didn’t want to wake you, but… look.” She showed Faith the papers. “I think Spike’s doing this and I need to stop him. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but I don’t have the luxury to find out, I need him out of the picture since the big showdown is about to happen. I thought he’d make a good ally, he’s a strong and skilled fighter, but I can’t risk more people… Would you come with me?” Buffy asked and sat on the bed next to Faith and looked into her eyes.

“Yes, B, sure, whatever you need. I can rip his head off, no problem.” Faith said and sat up, holding the cover over her naked body.

“Thanks…” Buffy said and gently kissed her lips. Then she hurried back downstairs because she knew she wouldn’t be able to resist Faith if she saw her in all of her naked glory.

^ ^ ^ ^

When Willow woke up, her arm was loosely draped over Althenea’s waist, and she quickly pulled it away. She didn’t want the gorgeous redhead to think she was making an advance. That wasn’t on her mind, not even close… or that was what she kept telling herself.

She felt guilty cause she had thoughts about Althenea so soon after Tara’s death. _What’s wrong with me, am I insane? Tara was the best thing that ever happened to me… and she deserved better. She deserves better. I shouldn’t think about anyone else._

Her eyes filled with tears of guilt and shame and Willow got out of bed and got dressed. A long time ago she would have picked brighter, lighter colors, shirts with silly quotes and images. That Willow died with Tara. Now she wore darker clothes, mostly brown, red, green, and black. Shirts no longer had funny stuff on them, they were mostly one colored and as the younger Willow would have called them- boring grown up clothes.

Now she put on a dark green t-shirt and a gray shirt over it, and black jeans. She got to the kitchen just in time to see Buffy, Faith and Dawn drive away.

“Where are Buffy and Faith going?” she asked Molly, who was eating her pancakes.

“To slay some guy named Spike.” Molly said in an adorable English accent, and Willow’s jaw dropped.

That so wasn’t what she expected to hear. “Wait, hold up… Are you sure?”

“Yeah, Buffy thinks he might have killed a bunch of girls and guys. It’s all very creepy.”

“If William the Bloody is back, it’s more than creepy. It’s downright hair-raising, spine chilling…”

For a second, Willow wondered if Buffy would be able to kill him. Then she remembered she had sent Angel to hell to save the world, and stabbed Anya through the chest. Buffy was a tough cookie, and Willow had to wonder just how much damage Buffy’s soul had to endure, being hurt so often and so deeply. It was a miracle her best friend hadn’t crossed over to the dark side of the force too. Buffy always held her heart on her sleeve, always loved so deeply and always got hurt.

Getting hurt was what Willow really wanted to avoid. She didn’t wanna flay anyone else.

^^^^

“Try not to get sent to my office, love you!” Buffy said to Dawn when they entered the Sunnydale High.

“Yeah, yeah!” Dawn grinned and ran off and Buffy and Faith were gonna head to the basement to find Spike when Principal Wood waved to Buffy and started walking toward them.

“Wasn’t expecting to see you here yet.” Wood said to Buffy and smiled.

“Oh yeah, I’ve dropped Dawn off to school… Faith and I are going for coffee… I’ll see you later.” Buffy said and Faith just nodded to Wood and they exited the school.

“Very suave, B. The basement containing the insane vamp is in another direction.”

“We can slip in through a window. I know where it is.”

“Oh, ok. Cool then.”

The window was closed and Buffy kicked the glass hard and went through, trying not to cut herself on the glass shards. It didn’t work, it was a small window and she winced when the glass cut her forearm. She jumped down and hit the floor hard, the window was pretty high up. A moment later, Faith was down with her.

“You ok? You cut yourself.”

“So did you. I’m ok…”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I…” Buffy noticed the look Faith was giving her, she wasn’t asking about the scratch, she was asking about Spike.

“I’ll be ok. I always am. Five by five, right, Faith?”

Faith thought words were useless at that moment and she grabbed Buffy’s hand and pulled her into a passionate kiss. Which didn’t stop until Spike got out of his hidey hole and asked, smirking

“Did you two birds come here just to give me a free show? I’m not complaining… I could even join in.”

“You sound saner than the last time I saw you.” Buffy said, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Had time to think… Reflect. I talk to myself a lot.”

“Spike… do you recognize these people?” Buffy pulled the newspaper out of her purse and showed it to Spike.

“Never seen any of them before. Why do you ask? Wait, you think that I offed them?!” Spike looked enraged and hurt, and Buffy couldn’t help feeling bad. She looked down.

Faith continued to glare at him, murder in her eyes.

“I got a soul for you and you think I killed a bunch of girls?! Are you bloody serious?!”

_You know she doesn’t give a crap about you, Spike. First it was all about Angel, now she’s kissing another woman, she was just using you, you stupid vampire. Did bleach eat your brain?_

Spike listened to his twin whisper in his ear and then he started singing… _Early one morning, just as the sun was rising…_

Spike grabbed his head, his face turned red and he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Then he launched himself at Buffy and punched her. He caught her off guard and she stumbled backwards, feeling confused. What’s just happened?

She hesitated, but Faith didn’t. She kicked him so hard he flew at the wall. His face had changed and he growled and screamed again and this time attacked Faith.

“Spike! What is happening to you?!” Buffy yelled and punched him as hard as she could twice. He was like a wild animal. She’d heard about triggers and how they changed behaviors, but she’d thought it was science fiction. Now she wasn’t that sure. She was starting to be sure that a triggered Spike whose chip apparently wasn’t working anymore cause he’d attacked Faith and hadn’t screamed in agony, was a big threat to them both and the world.

Instead of answering to her, Spike grabbed the hem of her jacket, lifted her up and threw her against the wall so hard she almost blacked out.

“B! You son of a bitch!” Faith yelled at Spike and pulled a stake out of her jacket. She kicked him, sent him flying again, and he landed at Buffy’s feet, still growling menacingly. This time Buffy didn’t hesitate. She slammed a stake into Spike’s chest and gasped when he turned to dust. She dropped her stake and just stared at dust that landed on her shoe.

A single tear ran down her face and Faith pulled her into a hug, without saying a word. She just held her tightly for a moment…

“Are you still up for that cup of coffee before work?” Faith asked, her voice soft and her hand gently moving over Buffy’s back.

“Yes, please…” Buffy whispered and hugged her tighter. Her tears wet Faith’s neck and Faith soothingly ran her fingers through Buffy’s hair.

Buffy moved away to wipe away her tears, caught Faith’s hand and they walked out of the school basement in silence.

They felt closer to each other than ever before, and when they sat down at Espresso Pump and ordered coffee, their fingers were still entwined.

Sitting in silence, holding hands and drinking coffee didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. It felt amazing. Just right.

“Thank you, Faith. I’ll see you at home, I have to get going.” Buffy said at twenty to nine, she wanted to be at work at least ten minutes before the beginning of her shift.

“Can’t wait.”

They smiled and Buffy walked away, hoping for a quiet day at work, without too many fights and conversations with troubled teens.


	9. Mommy Dearest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith gets a warm welcome to the 'important players' club and a date.

When Faith got back to Buffy's house and saw girls training in front of the house, she felt like maybe something in the universe had shifted with Spike's death and now they might even have a chance to win the war against this non-corporeal evil...

Kennedy was the Lead Potential, and Faith smiled when she saw her train. The girl had the right attitude, and balls. Faith wasn’t sure she would have been that determined and brave if she’d been thrown into a fight without her powers.

Not that she hadn’t been through different kinds of fights before becoming a Slayer. Faith didn’t like to think about that part of her life, and after a few minutes she ran to the group of Newbies and said “All right, girls, let me show you how real fighting is done. Any volunteers?”

Of course, Kennedy volunteered, but so did Caridad and Chloe, and since they were The Newer Newbies, she picked them for the first round.

“No punching and kicking just yet, first you gotta learn how to dodge an attack. Come on, show me what you got!”

^ ^ ^ ^

Buffy barely managed to sit down at her desk when a bewildered Robin Wood burst into it. He was usually so cool and calm, Buffy knew something was very wrong... and she thought it would just keep getting worse, it was hard to keep positive while one was standing literally above the mouth of hell.

“It’s not even nine o’ clock and we’ve already had three fights, one ended with a broken arm and the parents and police coming, someone broke a window and a girl set a garbage can on fire. While the cops were here. They must think I’m the most incompetent principal ever.”

He looked so depressed and just sank into the chair. “I think you’re in need of the Buffy wisdom. Which means you’re about to hear something you won’t like and it’s gonna be hard to accept it.”

“Something about evil that keeps happening in Sunnydale and keeps getting ignored completely?” Robin looked into Buffy’s eyes and she wondered if he knew more than she’d thought.

“Uh… yeah. Looks like you’re not one of the clueless people.” Buffy sounded suspicious and Wood couldn’t blame her at all.

“Definitely not clueless. Buffy… I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something, but I didn’t know how to bring it up.”

“Are you about to ask me out?” Buffy joked when she saw how worried he looked, worried but determined. A smile appeared on his face for a moment, but it quickly got replaced by worry.

“I know who you are, Buffy.”

Ok, now that was suspicious as hell.

Buffy somehow managed not to jump to her feet, but she did get up kinda abruptly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, sounding defensive and ready to attack if necessary. Robin looked into her eyes again, and was blown away by the power he saw in them.

“I know you’re the Slayer. My mother was one.” Robin added quickly cause for a moment he thought that Buffy would jump on him and kick his ass. But his statement rooted her to the spot and she just stared at him for a moment, her mouth agape.

“Your mother is… Nikki Wood?”

That was surreal. Buffy didn’t think any of the Slayers had had children. Their lives were often too short to have families and offspring.

“Yes.”

Buffy sat down again, trying to compose herself, and Robin started telling her his story. First the childhood and then how he trained with his mother’s Watcher, and how he managed to get to this position, to get closer to her and to help her fight if possible.

“I slayed the vampire that killed your mother just about an hour ago.” Buffy said, and now it was her turn to render Robin speechless.

“How do you…?”

It was Buffy’s turn to explain everything that had happened in Sunnydale up to that point. She skipped the part of her and Spike having sex cause she didn’t think it was any of his business, but she told him how Spike had repented and gotten himself a soul.

“I think the First got to him just like it had gotten to me and my friends, and he didn’t know how to fight it… I couldn’t afford the possibility of losing him to the dark side, the consequences would have been catastrophic…”

“I can’t say I’m not happy the bastard is dead, I just hoped I would be the one to end him…”

“Yeah, I bet.”

“So, what about that going out think that you’ve mentioned?” Robin grinned and Buffy smiled awkwardly, like a doe caught in the head lights. She didn’t know how Faith would react to her going out with Robin… but it wasn’t an actual date, so it didn’t really matter that much. So she accepted the invitation and swallowed hard when Robin said “Great, it’s a date.”

^ ^ ^ ^

“This was great!” Caridad and Chloe said in unison when their lesson with Faith was done.

“Yeah, you did well!” Faith smiled and made a motion like she was gonna clap her hands, but her hands froze in midair. The girls looked at her questioningly when color drained from her face as she stared into something they couldn’t see.

_Hello, Faith. Didn’t think you’d see me again, did you?_

A woman with long, scruffy, brown hair, who looked so much like Faith herself, except her eyes were blue, stood there, smiling.

Faith’s jaw dropped.

“Faith? Are you ok?” Molly asked, looking anxious. She thought of Faith as the badass, fearless one, and seeing her so spooked out scared the hell out of the young girl.

_Ah, I know, I don’t look so great. But, still better than the last time you saw me._

“Mom?” Faith whispered, her voice was breaking. Her mother, the woman who’d neglected her, abused her and let her countless loser boyfriends wreck their lives completely, just stood there, smiling creepily. Faith felt like someone had just kicked all the oxygen out of her, she couldn’t catch a proper breath.

“Faith?? I think she’s seeing her mother.” Annabelle whispered, unable to understand anything.

_Faith, you can’t win this battle. This is too powerful for you and Buffy… and come on, like these little girls could do any difference? This is the First damn Evil we’re talking about here. And, let’s be realistic… You’ve always been a failure, Faith. And you’re gonna fail these girls now, you’re all gonna die!_

“SHUT UP!” Faith screamed, listened to the echo of her mother’s evil laughter for a moment, and looked at her hands. They were shaking. She saw blood on them for a second, but it was gone when she blinked again. They were still shaking, though, and it wasn’t easy to make Faith freak out like that… Only her mother could do it.

Feeling claustrophobic out in the open, Faith ran as fast as she could. The Potentials were too taken aback to even try to follow her, they just stared after her, trying to understand what had just happened.

“It was the First. I think it started taking Faith seriously, it doesn’t show itself to just anyone.” Willow, who stood on the porch with Althenea, said and made the girls jump a little.

“The thing that wants to kill us all and end the Slayer line?” asked Vi, the cute geeky redhead.

“Yeah.”

“Well, if it made an actual Slayer run away in terror, what chance do we have?” Chloe asked and it felt like the world had suddenly gone really quiet…

^ ^ ^ ^

Buffy was driving home from work when she noticed Faith walking alone and smoking. The brunette didn’t even notice her, so Buffy honked and stopped the car. Faith jumped a little, and threw away her cigarette as she entered Buffy’s car.

“Is it four o’clock already?”, Faith asked and Buffy noticed she was paler than usually. Her eyes looked darker and bigger and Buffy got seriously worried.

“Ten past four. You ok?”

“Five by…”

“Cut the crap, ok? I’ve never seen you like this, what’s wrong? Did someone get hurt?”, Buffy decided it was better to stop the car, so she pulled over next to the cinema.

“No, nothing like that.”, Faith said quickly, so Buffy would stop worrying.

“So, what is it?”, Buffy asked, removed the seat belt and turned a little to face Faith.

“I saw… I saw my mother.”, Faith croaked and looked away. “It was her, B. Down to the cheap perfume she wore.” Her voice was huskier than usually, and when Buffy reached out to catch her hand, she realized it was trembling a little. Faith had spent years in jail without trembling, but seeing her mother did it. Buffy didn’t know what exactly to say, so she just ran her fingers over Faith’s hand and watched her intently.

“The thing is… I didn’t even know that she’d died.”, Faith swallowed hard and Buffy gently kissed her hand and whispered “Oh, Faith…”

“The last time I saw her, she… she was standing on a corner… selling her body for drugs. She looked… damn, B, some vampires I’ve seen looked better than her.”

“Oh my god, Faith… I’m so sorry.”, Buffy said and pulled Faith into a hug. That was the first time she’d ever heard Faith talk about her mother. She felt horrible when she realized she’d never asked Faith about her family and life pre-Sunnydale.

“She was a bad mother, B. I’m not surprised she’s dead, I’m surprised she can still hurt me, even in death.”

“I wanna know all about your life. I think it was about time to meet the real Faith. I think I’m gonna lo… like her.”, Buffy corrected herself quickly, but when she looked into Faith’s eyes, the brunette saw real care and emotions in those green eyes.

“Heh, B, I’m not sure about that, but… If the world doesn’t end, I’ll tell you my story.”, Faith sighed and felt very nervous cause she’d never told the whole story to anyone, not even the psychologist she used to go to, the woman she’d always called V.

“For now, just remember that we’re stronger together, and I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Yeah… but you didn’t hear stuff my… that thing… said.”

“I’m sure they weren’t true.”, Buffy whispered and pulled a very surprised Faith into a passionate kiss. Faith never thought that Buffy would kiss her where people could see them. The kiss made her gasp and she totally melted into it, and soon deepened it and rolled her tongue with Buffy’s. God, how she wanted her. And it was obvious that Buffy wanted her back. Little moans kept escaping her, and Faith barely stopped herself from whining when their lips disconnected.

“I have quite a story for you too, actually. Maybe we should go for lunch, just the two of us. My treat.”, Buffy tightened the seat belt again and slowly licked her lip. Her belly was still under attack of butterflies.

“Oh yeah? I’m curious now.”, Faith managed to smile and she was relieved that the black cloud that had nested above her head, was finally gone.

She never expected Buffy to stop the car in front of a cozy, little Italian restaurant. The place was very intimate and kinda romantic.

“Is this… a date?”, Faith asked, a little smile dancing on her lips. The smile widened when she noticed Buffy’s eyes get bigger, with a tinge of panic.

“It could be… I mean, if you want it to be… But, it doesn’t have to be… If you don’t want it to be. I mean, I don’t wanna rush, I just thought… Good food.”

Buffy was getting flustered and Faith thought it was adorable, but she decided to break that inner turmoil with “Ok, B, it’s a date.”

Huge smiles on their beautiful faces made them both look almost radiant and they giggled as they entered the restaurant.

They sat at a table in the corner, Buffy ordered an iced tea and Pasta Carbonara, and Faith decided to go for Pasta Bolognese and mineral water.

Food was great and Buffy’s story about the Principal was interesting, so Faith started feeling better. Her mother’s ghost wasn’t in front of her eyes anymore, Buffy was all she could see now.

“You know, Robin asked me to dinner tonight.”, Buffy admitted, when she was done with her story.

“Oh, he’s Robin now, huh?”, Faith asked, unable to ignore jealousy cooking in the bottom of her stomach. She wasn’t used to that.

From the way Faith’s jaw clenched, Buffy realized that she was jealous and it actually made her smile.

“You’re not jealous, are you?”, she asked, teasing just a little.

“No.”, Faith lied, unsuccessfully.

“Faith… He’s my boss and a son of a Slayer… it’s pretty much a business dinner. You’re a Slayer and I think he’d wanna meet you too, so why don’t you join us?”

Buffy just wanted Faith to understand that it wasn’t a date, and for Robin to get the same message. What was a better way to do it than bringing another woman with her?

A loud, relieved sigh escaped Faith and she smiled despite herself.

“Ok, that sounds good.”

“Ok, let’s go home now. Maybe we can steal a few minutes to just lie down.”

“Yeah, I am tired. I’ve spent all day just wandering all over Sunnydale.”, Faith said as she followed Buffy out of the restaurant.

“So… was this a good first date?”, Buffy asked, smiling.

“The best.”, Faith grinned and pulled Buffy into a kiss.

“I’m happy to hear that.”, Buffy smiled and jumped in the car. Faith placed her hand on Buffy’s knee as she blonde drove away, and Buffy thought it wasn’t a good idea cause she didn’t trust her own driving even while she wasn’t feeling turned on, but she didn’t wanna say anything. She liked Faith’s hand… a lot.


	10. Şurprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world doesn't like to give without taking  
> (very cryptic, I know, but don't wanna give any spoilers for this chapter, it's one of my favorites)

When Althenea woke up, Willow had already left. She washed up, changed into a red shirt and a black skirt and boots, grabbed a book she needed and got out of the house. Willow had cried in her sleep the previous night, calling out Tara's name.

Althenea knew that Willow had tried to bring Tara back with Osiris's help, but she was sure that Willow hadn't known about a loophole. Otherwise she would have already fixed that mistake and brought Tara back.

The beautiful witch walked to the cemetery, entered one of the empty crypts, sat down and placed six candles in a circle. She sat in the middle, closed her eyes and started chanting. Suddenly, she appeared in a round room, and before her stood very strange looking man and woman. Their skin was almost golden, with light blue splatters. The man’s hair was golden and woman’s was black and curly. They wore black robes and stared into Althenea in surprise and a bit of annoyance cause she dared to disturb them.

“Are you the Oracles?”

“What do you want, lower being?”, the male Oracle asked and glared at Althenea, who glared right back.

“This one is powerful.”, the female Oracle commented and curiously stared at the witch.

Feeling a bit more confident after hearing the female’s comment, Althenea explained the situation: She wanted Tara back to help with the fight, and to reward the Slayer for her sacrifices. She doubted they would reward Willow after she’d almost destroyed the world. She explained that Buffy would never ask for it herself because she’d also been resurrected, but it wasn’t a crime if someone wanted to do her a favor.

The Oracles weren’t big on favors, they expected to be paid, so Althenea gave them a locket that had belonged to her grandmother. She figured changing lives of people she cared about was worth it.

The male wasn’t gonna do it, but the female softened him a little, and after a bit more of convincing, he agreed to send Tara back to Earth, without any memories of her time in heaven. She would know that she’d been dead, but not for how long, or anything else.

The female one snapped her fingers and Tara appeared next to Althenea, looking very confused. She rubbed her eyes, as though she’d just woken from a deep sleep and listened to Althenea’s explanation. She burst into tears, grateful and overwhelmed by emotions, and the Oracles rolled their eyes and sent them back to Revello Drive.

Willow was meditating in her bedroom, when Althenea and Tara appeared there with a pop. Willow’s eyes snapped open, and she was a bit annoyed, prepared to say something harsh, but when she saw Tara standing there, her jaw dropped and she couldn’t say a word.

“Hi, sweetie.”, Tara said, smiling and crying at the same time.

“You’re not real.”, Willow whispered, tears choking her.

“She is. It’s a long story, but she’s very real.”, Althenea said and Willow started getting up. Tara offered her a hand and relief washed over Willow when she realized that Tara was very much corporeal.

“Tara? It’s really you?”, Willow whispered again, and tears freely flew down her face.

Tara didn’t bother answering using words. She leaned into a kiss and Willow met her halfway, still unable to understand what was happening. A part of her was sure that she’d dozed off. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears; her whole body was on fire.

“Tara… oh my god, Tara…”, Willow couldn’t stop kissing and touching the love of her life.

Althenea was just about to walk out of the room, when Willow called after her. “I don’t know how you did this, but I owe you my life. I’ll never be able to pay you back, but I’ll never stop trying. You have just given me my world back.”

She didn’t really wanna move away from Tara, but Willow followed Althenea and hugged her tightly, and burst into tears on her shoulder.

The three women heard Buffy and Faith running up the stairs and Willow caught Tara’s hand and got out of the room.

Buffy’s heart stopped for a second when she saw Tara. She almost fell, but Faith managed to hold her up.

“How dare you to use her body?!”, Buffy glared at what she thought was The First, but then she noticed that the couple was holding hands.

“Tara?? Oh my god… how?”, Buffy asked, tears sparkling in her green eyes. After a moment, she jumped over two stairs and tackled the friend she’d never thought she’d see again.

“Althenea brought her back to us, Buffy…”, Willow cried happy tears.

“I’m back… god, I’m so happy to be back.”, Tara said, also crying and hugging Buffy.

“That’s… I can’t even… Hey, maybe there’s a chance for us and the world now.”, Buffy said, trying so hard not to cry, but a tear ran down her face.

“Why did you both think that I wasn’t real?”, Tara asked, wiping her tears.

“This Big Bad’s been taking form of dead people and messing with our heads. I’ve seen my mother today. Uh, Tara, welcome back. And… sorry I was mean to you when we first met.”, Faith said and extended her hand.

“All forgiven, don’t worry.”, Tara smiled and shook Faith’s hand.

“Buffy…”, Dawn started saying, but when she noticed Tara, she just stared at her with her mouth agape. She looked at Buffy, Faith and Willow, the looks on their faces told her that Tara was really Tara and the teenager ran upstairs and jumped on Tara, hugging her fiercely.

“It’s a good thing you don’t have Slayer strength, sweetie.”, Tara chuckled and kissed Dawn’s forehead.

“How…? I mean… wow… God, Tara, I’ve missed you…”

“I think we should give our lovebirds some privacy…”, Buffy said, smiling. She was happy beyond words and couldn’t even imagine what kind of ecstasy Willow was and would be feeling.

“Oh my god, yes! You just have fun, I’ll be playing loud music downstairs so no one can hear you…”, Dawn wiggled her eyebrows and ran downstairs, squealing happily.

“Yes, good idea. And we’ll take the Potentials outside to exercise, right Faith?”, Buffy said, looking at her suggestively.

“Well, I was gonna… uh, sure, B…”, Faith said quickly when Buffy elbowed her slowly.

“Come on, guys, we all heard you. No need to be shy.”, Willow teased the Chosen Two, and Buffy blushed to the roots of her hair.

“You two are…?”, Tara asked, surprised.

“Together, yeah.”, Buffy admitted and felt like a stone fell off her heart. Faith couldn’t believe that Buffy said it, but she was happy.

“I’m happy for you!”, Tara smiled and hugged Buffy once again. The blonde Slayer finally looked more like herself. Her aura was much brighter, too. Not as bright as it had once been, but brighter. Faith’s aura was much brighter too; it was more focused. Tara hoped they’d be very happy together because they both deserved it.

“Thanks, Tara… Ok, well, bye! Have fun!”, Buffy chirped, pulled Faith’s hand and led her downstairs.

“Everyone, can I have your attention please?”, Buffy asked when she got downstairs and the Potentials thought that Buffy would give them a speech, so they were very surprised when she said “I’ve just gotten a friend back… and it calls for celebration, so how about we all head to the Bronze, dance a little and have a drink? Non-alcoholic drink, of course.”, she added quickly when she saw naughty glints in many eyes.

“Party pooper.”, Faith winked and grinned.

“Wow, really? Ok, guys, let’s go before she changes her mind.”, Dawn grinned and before you could say ‘Bronze’ they were all out of the house.

The girls were in heaven when they entered the Bronze. Good music was playing, good looking people kept walking around, all the girls and Xander were in a very good mood. Goodness all around. Buffy thought that they all deserved it. Faith ordered herself a JD and a gin tonic for Buffy. Those drinks looked like they were alcohol free until you smelled them.

Faith sat on the couch and sipped her drink, and Buffy just leaned on the couch, as close to Faith as she could, as she watched her sister and the rest of the young ladies she was trying to protect. They were all smiling, which was a really nice change. She zoomed in on Dawn and Kennedy, who kept talking and laughing the whole time, and she wondered if anything was going on between them. She didn’t know if she was ready for her younger sister to date, but she thought she’d be happier if she dated Kennedy than a guy who could get her pregnant and then dump her.

“This place is so cool!”, said Vi and grinned happily.

“Yeah, best place in Sunnydale.”, Buffy agreed and smiled. Her eyes were wide open, she was ready for anything, even for surprise attacks by countless enemies. The phone in her purse started ringing loudly, and she jumped a little cause she hadn’t really gotten used to it yet.

“Hello?”, she answered, not recognizing the number.

“Hey, Buffy. It’s Althenea. I felt like walking a little and thought I’d try another Potential locator spell, and… there are two more in Sunnydale.”

“Two more? How don’t I know about it?”, Buffy asked, frowning. Her hand moved to Faith’s shoulder and squeezed it slowly. Faith looked at her, ready for action if it was needed.

“Ok, well, thanks, Althenea. I’ll check it out.”, she said and flipped her phone shut.

“Holy shit, B, look…”, Faith stared at bright orange light that sped toward their crowd.

“I don’t un….”, Buffy started and abruptly shut up when the light slammed into Dawn.

“Buffy? What’s happening?”, Dawn asked, her eyes huge with surprise and fear.

Buffy ran to her sister, her heart breaking. She hoped that her sister would never get activated cause it automatically meant a very short life. She wanted her sister to live long. “You… you’re a Potential Slayer.”

“I… what? Are you… are you s-sure? What was that light?”

“Althenea’s spell. God, Dawn… I never wanted this for you.”, Buffy’s eyes got teary, but Dawn looked excited and happy now. She’d finally get some attention and acknowledgement from her sister and the others. She’d been feeling pretty invisible even though she’d tried her best to research and make Buffy proud.

“It makes sense, though… The monks made her from your blood, right?”, Anya said, and Buffy and Dawn nodded.

“Yeah… Well… You’re gonna start training tomorrow, Dawnie. I’m gonna have to be a bit harder on you, cause I really want you to live a long and happy life.”, Buffy said and hugged her sister tightly.

“That’s a great way to say ‘congratulations’, B.”, Faith smirked and walked toward Dawn. She also hugged her and said “Well, congrats, Dusk. Don’t get killed, yeah? Slayer’s first rule.”

“Althenea said there were two more Potentials in Sunnydale. Guess we’ll have to find the other one.”, Buffy looked at Faith and chugged her drink. Her hands were shaking. This wasn’t supposed to happen to her sister. She didn’t know if she’d survive losing Dawnie too.

“Guess the party’s over for today, Juniors.”, Faith said, finished her drink and walked out, followed by a bunch of girls, Xander and Anya and Buffy and Dawn at the end of the line.

Buffy held Dawn’s hand, she didn’t wanna let her out of her sight. Those blind creeps would never get a chance to hurt her sister.

On their way back to Revello Drive, they bumped into a girl Buffy knew from school. She’d come to her office for guidance a few times.

“Amanda? What are you doing here?”, Buffy asked, looking at the girl curiously. Amanda looked really freaked out and she had a scratch on her forehead.

“L-looking for you actually…”, Amanda admitted, looking a bit more relieved.

“Me? Did something happen? Did that guy from your class pick on you again? How did you hurt your forehead?”

“I was at school, working on a project when this… glowing light slammed into me and there were some guys with wrinkled faces and I ran… To find you. I heard you knew about stuff like that.”

“Yeah… I’ll explain everything. Come with us. You’ll be safe, I promise.”

Althenea was reading History of Witchcraft in the living room when Buffy, Faith and the others returned.

“Can you protect the girls while Faith and I go to dinner?”, Buffy asked the witch, who nodded.

“Of course. Willow and Tara just got downstairs, they’re in the kitchen, they’re gonna help and we should be just fine.”, Althenea said and Xander dropped a chocolate he had just taken from a bowl of sweets.

“Tara is alive? Is that what we were just celebrating?”, he and Anya asked at once and they both ran to the kitchen to greet their resurrected friend.

“Guys, oxygen!”, Tara squealed when they suddenly pulled her in a hug.

“I didn’t think Osiris would cave in. How did you do it, Willow?”, Anya asked, amazed.

“Althenea did it. Oracles granted her a wish.”

“A wish? Are you sure it’s not gonna have any unwanted consequences?”, concern creeped into every pore of Anya, she knew that wishes could go terribly wrong.

“Nah, safe as bunnies…”, said Althenea, who heard Anya’s question. She jumped a little when Anya shrieked “Why does everyone think that bunnies are safe and cuddly? They’re terrifying!”

“I apologize. No more bunny comparisons.”, Althenea said, amused. She’d never met anyone who feared those fluffy creatures.

Faith and Buffy ran upstairs to change into something less comfortable, as they liked to say. Buffy wore a red dress, and Faith opted for red leather pants and a black shirt which, according to Buffy, made her breasts look amazing.

“I’ll drive.”, Faith said, to Buffy’s huge relief. The blonde wasn’t very fond of cars and driving.

“I didn’t know you could drive.”

“I don’t have a license, but I know how to drive. I drive better than you.”, Faith couldn’t help teasing.

“Everyone drives better than me.”, Buffy grinned and Faith surprised her with a passionate kiss.

“Mmmm, what was that for?”, Buffy whispered, her expression a bit dreamy.

“You look so amazing in this dress. But I still can’t wait to take it off later.”, Faith whispered, kissed Buffy once again and they headed out, both in a really good mood.

They smiled at Willow and Tara, who were sitting on the couch, all entangled and practically glowing, and left. During the ride, the two Slayers kept joking and teasing each other, none of them could remember the last time they laughed that much. The world started looking a bit less gloomy.

Holding hands, they walked toward the restaurant where they were supposed to meet Robin. Sirens blared, the ambulance passed them by and Buffy and Faith ran, their laughter died in their throats when they saw Robin’s body on the floor.

“Is he…?”, Buffy asked, but then she noticed the glassy look of his almondy brown eyes. “Oh, god.”

“Did you know him?”, a nurse asked.

“We were supposed to meet him for dinner.”, Faith said, Buffy looked too stricken.

“I’m sorry. He’s been dead for at least fifteen minutes.”

“I can’t believe this.”, Buffy whispered, tears running down her face. She kneeled down next to Robin and gently closed his eyes.

Faith noticed something that Buffy and the doctors hadn’t. There was big, black leather bag right next to the restaurant door. She walked over to it and opened it.

It was full of what she thought were little black figurines and she couldn’t understand why Robin would bring them. She figured that Giles or Willow might be able to come up with a reasonable explanation. The ambulance drove away with Robin’s body, and Buffy just stood there, shocked.

“B? You ok?”, Faith asked and gently ran her hand over Buffy’s back.

“I guess Heaven doesn’t like losing people.”, Buffy whispered and sighed loudly. “What’s in the bag?”

“Black figurines. I have no idea what they’re representing.”

“Faith?”, Buffy whispered, looking straight into Faith’s eyes.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”, Buffy blurted out, and Faith’s jaw dropped almost comically.

“B… I…”

“You don’t have to say it. I just thought… People just keep dying. I have no time to waste.”

Faith’s heart thumped loudly in her ears. She wasn’t ready to say it, even though she felt it. Buffy could see that she felt it, it was in her eyes, in her touch… That was enough for her at that moment, and she kissed the brunette slowly.

“I’m suddenly not hungry anymore, Robin’s death kinda killed my appetite… but, I could use some comfort.”, Buffy whispered as she grabbed Robin’s bag with mystery figurines and headed to the car. She threw it in the trunk and Faith opened the back door, sat inside and motioned for Buffy to join her.

Faith opened her arms “Come, let me hold you. The comfortador, that is me.”, she smiled, awkwardly, and Buffy joined her on the back seat and closed the door. She nested in Faith’s arms and let Faith’s hands move over her hair and body… Faith’s touch was very soothing, and after about ten minutes, Buffy fell asleep.

When Faith was sure that Buffy wouldn’t wake up, she moved away and jumped in the driver’s seat and drove away. She parked in front of Buffy’s house, gently picked Buffy up into her arms and carried her into the house.

Dawn jumped when she saw Buffy’s seemingly lifeless body in Faith’s arms, but Faith whispered “Sssh, she’s asleep”, and walked upstairs to place her in bed. She took off her dress and covered her with a fluffy duvet.

“I love you too, B.”, Faith whispered the three little words, and it felt really good. Maybe someday soon she would be able to say them to Buffy while she was awake too. She kissed the top of Buffy’s head and left the room, unaware that Buffy had heard her little confession. Slayer’s hearing was really good, even while she was sleeping…


	11. Shiny New Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quest, cats and love kittens

Faith filled everyone in on how they'd found Robin's body and the bag with little figurines.

Dawn, who was very excited about being a Potential, but also had spent a lot of time researching, got curious about what Faith was talking about.

“Oh my god, I know what these are! They tell a story when you arrange them correctly!”, Dawn exclaimed, happy cause she had the needed information for once. Now that she was also a Potential Slayer, she was proud because she was the only Almost Chosen that knew a lot about the mysterious demony world.

Buffy watched as Dawn arranged the figurines with pride, she’d never noticed all the effort Dawn was putting in and it made her feel guilty.

“What’s supposed to happ…?”, she started the question, but it got answered for her when a portal appeared in the middle of the living room.

Her eyes widened in realization and she barely heard Faith yell “No, B, wait!” as she dived into the portal head first. Faith couldn’t believe how reckless she was! Once upon a time, Buffy would have berated her about doing things on impulse, she would have preached for ages, and now she just jumped into the portal she knew absolutely nothing about. The portal closed so fast and Faith cursed cause she’d had no time to jump after Buffy.

“Dammit!”, she swore and jumped away when a huge demon appeared before her.

There was no time to think and Faith just automatically attacked it back. She couldn’t let anyone get hurt so she put all of her speed and force into killing the demon. Everyone sighed with relief when she broke its neck and it tumbled to the floor.

“Great, so she might have gone to a freakin’ hell dimension, and how is she supposed to come back now that the portal is closed?!”, Faith felt panic creep into every fiber of her being, she wasn’t used to feeling that level of fear.

“She’s gonna be ok… She’s Buffy.”, Tara tried to make Faith feel better, but the brunette was too freaked to even notice. She ran out of the house to get some air and smoke a cigarette.

“She is gonna be ok, right? We can pull her out of there, can’t we?”, Tara looked at Willow and Dawn, whose facials expressions weren’t too comforting.

“We’re all gonna die if she stays in that place, we have to do something!”, Chloe, who was usually pretty quiet, exclaimed and started pacing around.

“Come on ladies, you’re all badass, it’s gonna be ok. Our Buffster will come back, that’s what she does.”, Xander tried to keep positive for everyone’s sakes. His enormous trust in Buffy wouldn’t falter now.

Buffy tumbled out of the portal and ungracefully landed in the sand, which made her cough. She got up quickly and looked around. She was in the middle of a never-ending desert and she started thinking jumping in like that had been a bad idea.

Trying to stay optimistic, Buffy marched on. There was a wild cat waiting for her and she knew she was supposed to follow it. The cat nodded its head to the left and walked on. It led her to a sort of a church, or that was what it looked like to her. It had a tower attached to it, and there was a bell, and a dozen crosses all around. Buffy thought it was incredibly weird, in a place like this. She hadn’t expected to see even a cottage.

The cat vanished and Buffy swallowed hard before she slowly opened the door and walked inside. The door locked behind her and she thought it was ominous and cursed herself because she hadn’t taken any weapons.

“Hello?”, Buffy called out, and abruptly closed her mouth, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to attract any attention in a place like this. To her surprise and relief, an old woman appeared out of the shadows.

“You must be The Slayer.”, the old woman said and smiled. She didn’t look evil and Buffy relaxed a little.

“And who are you?”, Buffy asked, still a bit suspicious. Things weren’t always as they seemed, and with the First fooling everyone she didn’t trust anything anymore.

“I’m the last Guardian. And since you’re the Hellmouth’s last protector, I have something to give you.”

“Last protector?? Does that mean I’m gonna lose? What am I supposed to do? Why did you bring me here?”

“I have something that might help you if you use it wisely.”, the old woman led her upstairs to the top of the tower.

Buffy’s jaw dropped when she saw a beautiful ax stuck in a rock. It was all very King Arthury, but as soon as she saw the weapon she knew that it belonged to her. Without thinking, she reached out and easily pulled it out. She could feel its incredible power and she just couldn’t wait to try it out in a battle.

“This thing is… Wow.”, she moved her hands over the smooth surface of the badass looking ax that had a long stake at the end of its handle. “It was built for me…”, Buffy whispered, feeling awe struck.

“You’ve come the longest way… You’re a sort of a mythical creature now. I just… what is your name?”, the old woman asked as she curiously eyed the girl who was practically glowing with power.

“Buffy.”

The Guardian couldn’t hide the surprise, her eyebrows lifted and she said “No, really??”

Buffy just shrugged, she had seen many different reactions to her name already.

“Well, Buffy, good luck with your upcoming battle.”

“Thank you.”, Buffy said and yelped in surprise, she was being pulled back to her own world. She landed on her ass, still holding the thing she named The Scythe in her hands.

“You’re back! You’re ok! Wow, what’s that? Where were you?”, everyone kept asking questions at once and Buffy threw the Scythe to Faith, who caught it and Buffy could see she could also feel the power of the Scythe, her eyes widened and she almost forgot to kick the demon into the portal. It fell in just as the portal was closing.

“Is this… Holy shit, it’s powerful!”, Faith admired the ax for a moment, and then glared at Buffy and yelled “You’re not gonna distract me with shiny toys! You jumped in like an idiot, without thinking! You could have been killed!”

“Faith, I’m ok, promise, there was just this big cat and an old lady who gave me this… It’s awesome! We might have a chance now!”

“But you didn’t know what would be inside! You were as reckless as I had been once, and look how that story turned out for me!”, Faith yelled again, she was still worried sick even though Buffy was back. The blonde Slayer was deeply touched by Faith’s worry and she pulled her into a passionate kiss, which rendered everyone speechless even though they were all aware of their relationship.

“That’s cheating, B.”, Faith said, but couldn’t help smiling, her girl was a seriously good kisser.

“Dawn… I never would have gotten this without you. You’ve done an amazing job today.”, Buffy complimented her and Dawn beamed with pride and happiness.

“Summers sisters, saving the world together!”, Willow smiled widely and took the Scythe from Faith. Despite not having Slayer powers, she could still feel tingles when she held that ancient weapon.

“I King Arthured it out of the rock.”, Buffy grinned, feeling pretty cool. She caught the Scythe again and decided to put it in her bedroom. Faith followed her and everyone grinned.

“I never thought I’d use the word CUTE to describe Buffy and Faith, but that’s what they are.”, Dawn smiled, nodding approvingly. Her sister really needed a cute relationship that wouldn’t end with one of them dead or in a hell dimension or something.

“B, seriously, though… You could have been killed. Why don’t you even seem to care? Do you have a death wish or something??”, Faith asked as soon as Buffy closed the door to her bedroom.

“What?? No, I’m ok… I just… reacted.”, Buffy was surprised and a bit annoyed because Faith was all confrontational about something that didn’t even matter.

“Just like I had reacted when I rammed a stake at a human guy’s chest, B. I thought you were better than that! And you go jumping into any shimmering light you see! I can’t lose you now that I finally have you, you dumbass!”, Faith’s emotions showed in her dark eyes and the nervousness that radiated from her when she realized what she’d just said.

“Faith… Faith, I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere. Now that I’m with you, I finally feel alive, and I intend to stay that way… ok?”, Buffy looked into Faith’s eyes and pulled her so close their foreheads were touching. Their eyes spoke volumes and Buffy kissed her worried lover with all she had.

“You better.”

“We’re gonna slay this First Evil, save the world and party. Ok?”

“Ok… but you have to promise you’ll never do anything that stupid again.”

“Promise… Faith, I had no idea you were so sentimental…”

“I’m full of surprises. You ain’t seen nothing yet, blondie.”, Faith grinned and kissed Buffy again. “Do we have anything else to do or can I just keep you here for an hour or two?”, she purred into Buffy’s ear and the blonde felt tingles run down her spine. At that moment, she didn’t care about the world or anything that wasn’t Faith’s lips. She let her lover carry her to bed…

“Ah, here they go again.”, Kennedy grinned when the chandelier started rocking.

“Let’s soundproof their room.”, Willow grinned at Tara, who asked “Can we do it from our room?”

“This chandelier is gonna tumble down if you go at it too.”, Anya teased, and looked at Xander, he suddenly looked so hot and she just wanted to get out of there and have some fun of her own. She didn’t know if it was a good idea or not, with them still trying to work things out, but she thought what the hell and pretty crudely signaled him about her wishes. She didn’t have to signal him twice, Xander jumped off his chair and followed Anya like a lovesick puppy.

“There must be something in the air today.”, Dawn smiled and caught Kennedy’s look. Her face suddenly turned as red as a tomato and it made Kennedy chuckle.

“Catching it, are ya?”, Kennedy winked and ran after Dawn when the younger Summers scurried off to get upstairs to her room, following Willow and Tara. Kennedy ran after her, wondering if she really had a shot. She wanted to make a move so badly, and she wasn’t a very shy person.

“Hey, Dawn?”, she asked when they got to Dawn’s bedroom.

“Yeah?”, Dawn asked, and thought she’d melt when she saw how Kennedy’s almondy eyes looked at her before the girl leaned in for a kiss. It was like something pulled her to Kennedy, there was nothing she could do to resist her. Their lips connected in a slow kiss that soon got a bit more passionate. Kennedy’s lips were so soft, her tongue felt amazing…

“Wow…”, Dawn whispered when she broke the kiss to get some air…

“Yeah… You’re totally wow.”, Kennedy whispered and gently ran her fingers through Dawn’s hair.

“Now I believe we’re gonna save the world. You and I, Buffy and Faith and Tara and Willow… We’re the strongest force of nature together. Don’t you think?”, Dawn said and kissed Ken again.

“They say that love conquers all.”, Kennedy smiled and melted into another kiss.

Anya and Xander would have totally agreed with her if they’d heard her say that. They were in Xander’s apartment, enjoying the closeness as their bodies merged together in a wave of passion and love.

“I was such an idiot when I let you go.”, Xander whispered in Anya’s ear, and she grinned “I wholeheartedly agree with you.”

“Not gonna do that mistake again…”, he kissed her more passionately and a chorus of their moans sounded into the night…


	12. New Player

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy faces a new threat and gets some bad news

The death of Principal Wood forced Sunnydale High to close for the rest of the school year. It didn't really matter because barely any students bothered to show up to class anyway, and those who did would cause so much trouble they'd get suspended. School closed or not, the Goat was still there, and Buffy didn’t like it one tiny bit. She awoke at dawn and slowly got out of bed, not to wake Faith. The house was, for once, so quiet and she tiptoed her way around, got washed up and dressed and made herself a cup of coffee, which she put in a carton glass and she headed out.

As if on autopilot, Buffy walked to Sunnydale High and sneaked in through a small window that led to the basement. She needed to get to Robin’s office, which was right above the Hellmouth, because she knew that his pretty impressive weapons collection was hidden in the back of his very school-approved closet.

Any weapon would be helpful at this time of crisis. It seemed that someone else thought the same way, there was a guy dressed like a preacher roaming through Robin’s office. What was a preacher doing in there? Maybe Robin had been religious and had made a friend like that?

“Excuse me, Father, what are you doing here? School’s closed.”, Buffy said, trying to sound unthreatening and unsuspicious.

“I’ve never been anyone’s Father, you can call me Caleb.”, the guy smiled so sweetly it sent chills down Buffy’s spine. She could feel that he was trouble with a capital T, no matter what his uniform indicated. Her ‘spider’-sense was tingling loudly.

“Ok, Caleb… you haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?”, she repeated, her tone a bit stricter now. Caleb recognized power in her and even though he’d never seen her before because his Boss hadn’t shown him The One, he just knew it was her.

“You little ladies are always so curious. I guess it’s in your DNA code, with Eve being the Curious Bitch who ruined Heaven. You’re all the same, tainting this world and men’s minds with your whorish ways. You know what I’d do with your body? I’d snap it in two, like a twig…”

“Ah, ok, I get it. Misogynistic Preacher, how very original. I guess this First Evil really is desperate for any help it can get. You probably think it’s god, or devil or something divine. I will destroy it. You can count on it.”

Still smiling creepily, Caleb got closer to Buffy and chuckled. “It’s cute that you think you matter and that you can stop this. The only thing you ever did right was when you opening your legs to Angel brought Angelus forth.”

For a moment, Buffy stared at him, stunned, and he used the chance and punched her so hard she flew over Robin’s desk and hit the floor. Enraged, she lunged at Caleb, kicking and punching hard, her anger behind her fists a hundred and ten percent. To her surprise, he laughed, it was like he didn’t even feel any pain, like he was indulging her and letting her play for a bit.

When she expected it the least he kicked her in the kidneys and she flew again. Feeling like a rag doll, Buffy yelled in pain. She could taste blood in her mouth, and her head was pulsing, she was sure she’d be sporting a nice purple bruise later, if she survived, that was.

He grabbed her hair and pulled her back to her feet. “You’re not so special… I expected more, you’re supposed to be a very mighty Slayer… You’re just a little whore, just like any other woman in this world.”, he spat in her face and Buffy struggled against his insane strength. This guy was too powerful, she suspected the First Evil was somehow giving him power. He pushed her down to her knees, squeezing her arm behind her back so hard she thought it would break.

His foot connected with her stomach again and left her breathless. “I’m not supposed to kill you, not yet, but you see… You’re nothing. I’ve opened the Hellmouth and beaten you to a bloody pulp, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me… Bitch.”

He hit her head against the desk and threw her through the glass door and chuckled evilly when she didn’t get up. She lay there, unconscious, and Caleb slowly walked to the basement where bodies of two former students lay in the middle of the Seal of Danzalthar. He’d found out their names: Andrew Wells and Jonathan Levinson. Those sad, pathetic geeks, did one epic thing in their worthless lives. By killing them Caleb opened the Hellmouth, and the bitch wouldn’t be able to close it now because she’d never make him shed a tear. He contemplated going back to her and dragging her down there, but decided against it. He wanted to see her fight a Turok Han when she couldn’t even fight him, Caleb. 

Faith was usually the first to wake up, so when she opened her eyes and realized Buffy had already left, she thought it was ominous. Quietly, she looked all over the house, but there was so sign of blondie. She remembered to look at her phone, eventually, she hadn’t accustomed to having it yet. There was a text message from Buffy.

_‘Couldn’t sleep, gone out for a stroll. Xx ’_

She’d sent it almost three hours ago and still didn’t come back, and Faith got ready as fast as she could and ran out of the house, not bothering to say hi to girls who were awake and having coffee or eating cereal.

A block away from Revello, Faith saw a pretty beaten person sitting on a bench, and to her surprise, realized that the person was Buffy. Horror creeped into every pore of her and she yelled “Buffy! B, for god’s sake what happened?? Who did this to you?!”

There was no sign of Strong Buffy there, the girl sitting next to Faith looked fragile and scared. Her hands were bloody and shaking, her face was so bruised it hurt Faith to look at it. Her lips were cut, there was blood under her nose, an ugly cut on her forehead… Buffy held her stomach and Faith slowly lifted her shirt, which was also splattered by blood, up and winced when she saw bruises there too.

“B, can you hear me?!”, Faith asked as she cupped Buffy’s face as gently as she could.

“Faith… He w-was so s-strong, I couldn’t s-stop him.”

“Who was? Who did this to you?!”

“A P-preacher named C-Caleb.”, Buffy said and it seemed that her anger flared up with a mere mention of the misogynistic asshole and she slowly got up “I’m gonna kill him so bad.”

“You’re not going anywhere close to him without me, B.”, Faith kissed the top of Buffy’s head, it seemed it was the only part that wasn’t bruised.

Slowly, but with a lot of determination, Buffy stood up and started walking toward her home. “B, you’re not ok. You’re hurt, badly. We should go to a hospital.”

“Got no time for that.”, Buffy started hobbling slowly, and Faith placed Buffy’s arm around her neck, and her own arm around Buffy’s waist and helped her walk. The blonde didn’t complain about it, which was good because Faith thought she would have knocked her out otherwise.

“OH MY GOD, WHAT HAPPENED?!”, Dawn ran out as soon as she saw Faith holding Buffy, who had never gotten that badly beaten.

“Dawnie, I’m ok.”, Buffy said and flinched when she pulled her arm from Faith’s neck.

“Yeah, you look amazing… Bloody red is so your color.”, Dawn said sarcastically and Buffy rolled her eyes.

“There’s a new player in town.”, Faith explained when everyone came and stared at Buffy, shock evident on their faces, and so many question marks above their heads.

“I thought she was supposed to be the strong one. We’re all as good as dead if she’s looking like this.”, Annabelle said, turning really white. All the other Potentials agreed, except Kennedy. “If you think that way, you will get killed. Buffy, what happened?”

Buffy entered the house slowly, sat down on the couch and winced when Faith pressed an ice pack on her face. It felt good, and after a few minutes, Buffy started talking. She told them everything she knew and hobbled off upstairs to take a nice, bubbly bath as soon as she was done, even though it was obvious that they all had many questions. She just wasn’t strong enough to answer them right then.

“Watcher Jr. ready for some digging.”, Dawn started opening books straight away.

“Slayer Watcher Jr.”, Kennedy corrected her, looking proud.

“Preacher called Caleb. I’ll try to Google him.”, Willow grabbed her laptop, and Tara looked a bit confused, so she asked “Google him??”

“That’s a search engine, sweetie.”, Willow smiled and kissed Tara, who sat next to her and helped her look for clues.

Her eyes kept moving towards Tara, she couldn’t stop looking at her now that she was back. She wishes she could stay awake at all times, just to be able to watch her and memorize every single thing about her. The woman sitting next to her was so perfect in Willow’s eyes that she was practically a Goddess. And for some reason unknown to Willow, despite all of the bad stuff she’d done, that Goddess loved her.

Kennedy sat next to Dawn, grabbed one of the books and handed one to each of the other Potentials. “They say knowledge is the greatest weapon, hope they’re right.”, said Annabelle as she chewed on a carrot top.

Faith needed to unwind and spend some time alone, after seeing Buffy so beaten she got seriously worried for the first time. Maybe it was time to start training a little bit harder, or a lot harder. After years in prison, there was some serious rust sticking to her bones and muscles and Faith wanted to get rid of it. She pummeled on the boxing sack until she couldn’t breathe and her knuckles were raw and bloody despite being covered in bandages. When she looked up and saw Buffy sitting on the bottom stair and watching her intently, she actually gasped. Lost in her anxiety and anger, Faith didn’t even feel the buzzing of their connection.

“What was that about?”, Buffy asked, her voice quiet and soft, her worry was tangible.

“I’ve almost lost you twice in less than twenty-four hours, B.”, Faith’s breaths were ragged, she could barely breathe. Her hands were shaky when she picked up her water bottle to drink.

“You’re not gonna lose me.”, Buffy whispered and slowly got up to give her lover a hug, but Faith wasn’t in a cuddly mood just then. She grabbed her and dragged her to the mirror. “Look at yourself. Just fuckin’ look!”, Faith growled in her ear and Buffy actually shivered. Faced with her own reflection, she couldn’t deny that she looked far from ok. The cut on her forehead looked angry and like it would start bleeding if she just touched it, and there were a few ugly purple bruises, one on her chin and under her right eye. But she already looked better than just a while ago, Slayer healing was a good thing. A cut on her lips wasn’t that bad, but it was there.

“I know that I look bad, but I’m a tough cookie… I’ll show that preacher that he just got lucky when he surprised me.”

“You’re not going anywhere close to him again. I’m going to patrol later and you’ll stay home and sleep.”

“Faith, you know I can’t just coop myself up… I’ll be ok. I have so much to do, I have those girls to lead and protect…”

“WE have those girls, B. You’re staying home tonight, if I have to chain you up to that wall.”, Faith pointed at a set of chains that were hanging there for some reason and she was very serious about using them if it was necessary.

“Ok, ok, I’m staying home tonight. You can stop glaring now.”, Buffy tried to joke and she landed a soft kiss on Faith’s lips. “Can you just kiss me now?”

Faith couldn’t deny her that request… There was something new fueling their kisses at that moment, a kind of desperation she’d never felt before. She didn’t know where Buffy was getting her energy and strength from, but the blonde was kissing her so passionately and wildly, her hands literally tore Faith’s clothes off of her, and before they both knew what hit them, they were having sex on the floor… If her brain had functioned at that moment, Faith would have probably described it as animalistic, primal… For the first time in her life, she let someone else take over, and at the same time she felt like she was taking over Buffy, who was like an unstoppable force no matter if she was on top or surrendering herself to Faith in a way she’d never done before.

“I’m alive. And I’m all yours.”, Buffy whispered when she managed to connect her brain to her mouth.

“I’m all yours too.”, Faith whispered and kissed Buffy again, surprised that her lips were still able to move. Every part of her was sore, but singing with delight.

“I know… Um, Faith… How are we supposed to go upstairs when our clothes are literally torn apart?”

“I… I don’t know… What waaaas that? Holy shit… My head is spinning.”

“Magic…”

“I’ve had some wicked sex in my time, B, most of it with you just recently, but this…”

“I should almost die more often.”, Buffy joked and Faith playfully slapped her ass “Don’t even joke about it.”

“God, I’m so so in love with you.”, the way Buffy said it sent a horde of butterflies through Faith’s belly, and the fact that she gently placed Faith’s brown locks of hair behind her ear and then kissed her again… Faith felt like she was suddenly on top of the world.

“Tell me about it.”, she whispered back and texted Dawn ‘ _Yo, Dusk, can you please throw some clothes down the basement stairs, without coming in?’_

 _‘I wouldn’t come in if you paid me, Faith. Is my sister still alive down there?’,_ Faith and Buffy both chuckled at Dawn’s reply, they weren’t aware of how loud they’d been until another message from Dawn arrived ‘ _Willow and Tara soundproofed the basement too when a couple of neighbors showed up with various weapons. You animals. ;)’_

“No way.”, Buffy said and jumped to get clothes Dawn was throwing in while yelling “Don’t you dare show yourselves until I’m safely watching TV in the living room, faaar from you!”

“This was… groundbreaking.”, Faith grinned and lit a cigarette. She was trying to quit, but that after sex cigarette always tasted so good. Especially after this tornado they’d just caused.

Buffy nested in her arms once again and stole a few drags… “But, we really have to get dressed now…”

“B, you’re such a party-pooper sometimes.”, Faith sighed, put out her cigarette and begrudgingly started getting dressed.

“I know, I’m sorry and I’ll make it up to you…”

“Oh, goody! Looking forward to that…”, Faith grinned and caught Buffy’s hand when they were finally fully dressed. The pair went back upstairs, ready for getting teased, but the atmosphere was strangely serious.

“What’s…?”, Buffy asked, her brow furrowed, and then she realized Giles was there, holding a dead Afro-American girl in his arms.

“I’ve found her by the road, she had your address clutched in her hand. I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I have more bad news.”

Yeah, magic has abruptly ended.


	13. Closing the Hellmouth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone unexpected closes the Hellmouth and Buffy gets another visit

“Buffy, dear Lord, what happened to you?”, Giles asked and hugged her tightly, but gently, not to hurt her more.

“I was hoping you’d be able to tell me more about the guy who did this to me. He said his name was Caleb.”, Buffy sat on an armchair and Faith leaned on it, her hand on Buffy’s shoulder. She nodded to Giles, who nodded back and although it seemed like he wanted to comment on her presence, he apparently had more pressing issues to discuss.

He hugged Willow and Anya and then looked at Tara with misty eyes and pulled her into a tight hug. “Althenea filled me in when she got to England, but I still… welcome back, Tara.”. He handed a heavy rucksack to Willow.

“To start with the worst news… The Council of Watchers got blown up a few days ago. These books are all I have left from those vast resources.”

“Blown up? You mean all the Watchers are…”

“Dead, yes. A Bringer almost got me too, but I managed to defend myself. The First is very determined to wipe out all the Slayers and Watchers. There are so many girls all over the world and I have no idea how to save them all. Our coven in England has been doing their best trying to locate them…”

“Do you have any better news?”, Willow asked, slightly pouting. She was so worried that she would go over deep end if she tried to use magic to help. She felt a bit more confident now that Tara was here to ground her and help her, but it was still a lot to take in.

“I’m afraid not. The Hellmouth has been opened. Apparently there were beings living inside it that we know nothing of. They could be the most powerful enemies yet, there must be a reason why The First chose them for the big finish.”

“The Hellmouth… Caleb told me that he’d opened it! I wanted to go check on it, but he knocked me out and when I came to, I was too weak to try to fight anything so I just headed home. I guess we should go and check it out. I need to close it before these Hell thingies overtake Sunnydale.”

“B, you’re in no condition to fight anything, no matter what you think.”, Faith glared at Buffy and tightened the grip on her shoulder.

Giles was surprised by care and determination in Faith’s voice, but he approved of it. He was a Watcher, he could see that something was going on between the two Slayers, but this wasn’t time or place to discuss it.

“Yes, they’ve been sleeping together. Everyone knows, so you should too.”, Anya addressed Giles and grinned at the Chosen Two.

“Oh, uh, all right.”, Giles said and started cleaning his glasses. “Uh, well, Faith’s right. You’re in no condition to fight and you should stay here with Willow and a few of Potentials. Faith, Tara, you’re coming with me, Xander and Anya, we’re going to Sunnydale High.”

Willow looked alarmed at the mention of Tara leaving her, and she wanted to complain, but Tara caught her hand and said “I can do it. I haven’t come back just to hide in our bedroom. I can help.”

“I’m going with Mr. Giles and Faith. “, Kennedy volunteered and Dawn jumped a little, as alarmed as Willow. “You have no powers, Ken! You can’t go.”

“I know how to fight; I’ve been training for years for this!”

“Fine, but in that case, I’m going too!”

“No, you’re not!”, Kennedy and Buffy said at once.

“Buffy, come on! I’ve been living with you all my life and watching you the whole time.”

“Or more precisely, 2 years- and no, you can’t go!”

“But… Buffy, I’m the Key! Maybe I’m the thing that can close the Hellmouth!”

“You’re… what? What on earth are you talking about?”, Kennedy asked as her jaw dropped.

“I’ll explain later…”, Dawn smiled at Ken and gently ran her fingers over Ken’s hand.

Buffy seemed to be at a loss for words, which was a miracle of its own and Dawn looked victorious. “It’s worth a shot, don’t you think?”, she looked at Buffy, Faith and Giles, who didn’t seem to find arguments to fight her.

“Ok, Dawn, but, promise me, if you think for a second that you can’t do it, you get out of there and come home to me.”, Buffy walked over to her sister, placed her hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. She couldn’t lose her too. She would rather jump into the Hellmouth herself.

“I promise…”, Dawn hugged her sister, whose green eyes were shining with tears. Somehow she looked scared and proud at the same time and Dawn loved her for it.

“OK, well, we should go.”, Giles sighed and got up.

“What?? Right now? But… We haven’t talked tactics or anything…”, Buffy jumped back to being alarmed and anxious.

“We can do it, B. We have the Scythe now, too.”

“Yeah… the Scythe. And remember, don’t you die on me.”

“There will be no dying.”, Faith promised and headed upstairs to take the Scythe and other weapons from Buffy’s chest.

When she returned, Scythe in her hand, Faith looked more powerful than ever. Buffy felt such an urge to kiss her, but somehow refrained from doing so, at least at that moment. She was so proud when Faith took charge and said “Ok, Giles, Xander, Anya, Tara, Dawn, Junior- that was her way of addressing Kennedy, Molly and Annabelle, you’ve been here longest and you’re coming with me.”

Molly and Annabelle looked like they wanted to argue, but Faith’s glare shut them right up. She wasn’t gonna take any sass from the newbies.

“Remember, no dying. You all come back. And if you need me, call me.”, Buffy looked at Faith, who nodded and pulled Buffy into a scorching kiss. “See you in a bit, babe.”

“Yeah… Good luck.”, Buffy whispered as they started walking away. Tara kissed Willow, promised she’d be ok and left too. “

“I shouldn’t have let Dawn go. I should have gone with Faith. What if something goes wrong and I’m not there to stop it? What if…?”, Buffy was panicking and Willow pulled her into a hug.

“I know you’re worried, but they’re gonna be ok. Faith can take care of herself and she won’t let anything happen to Dawnie either.”

Willow was gonna say something else, but at that moment a stone smashed into the window and shards of glass flew all over the living room. Amanda was the one who yelled “Watch out!”, but luckily the stone didn’t hurt anyone.

“What the…?”, Buffy growled, looking worried and pissed off at once.

“Buffy, what on earth is THAT?!”, Caridad yelled. Something that looked like a vampire, but more ancient than even the Master was walking toward the house.

“I guess that would be the thing that lived in the Hellmouth!”, Buffy jumped to her feet, and Willow yelled “PROTEGO!”, which formed a barrier that prevented vampires from getting into the house.

“It can’t get into the house, it hasn’t been invited!”, Buffy said, but wondered if that rule applied to that ancient vampire too. It looked like a thing from worst nightmares.

“No, but I’m not a vampire.”, Caleb, who was a human being, managed to walk through the barrier and Buffy’s eyes widened, she wasn’t feeling strong enough to fight him and there were girls she needed to protect. She couldn’t ask Willow to attack him, she didn’t know if her friend could handle that much at once, she started looking strained already.

“GIRLS, TO THE BASEMENT. LOCK THE DOOR!”, Buffy yelled and grabbed a sword that was leaning onto the fireplace. Caleb punched Willow, who flew, hit the wall and passed out. The barrier was still standing, but Buffy didn’t think it would hold for long, it was already kinda shimmering.

“Willow! Oh my god!”, Buffy held the sword tightly. She couldn’t believe how scared she was feeling. She kept glancing at the shimmering barrier that kept looking fainter, but Caleb was her main concern at the moment. He didn’t seem worried at all, he just strolled in casually and smiled creepily.

“You can’t stop me, little girl. This is the day you die.”, Caleb taunted her, but she tuned out, she wasn’t gonna listen to his threats. She was Buffy THE Vampire Slayer and she wouldn’t let this jerk and his evil boss kill her and destroy the world. She swung her sword and managed to cut his arm, but he didn’t even flinch. He kicked the sword out of her hand and she stumbled backwards, but managed to keep herself on her feet.

 _Everything’s a weapon when you’re a Slayer,_ Buffy thought and starter throwing everything she could land her hands on at the evil priest. She even flung the sword into his chest, but he just pulled it out and continued walking toward her. Buffy was mortified. She didn’t know how long she would be able to fight him. The living room was in shambles and Caleb kept brushing off every attack she threw at him with too much ease, she was beginning to feel humiliated.

To make things worse, the vampire kept throwing itself against the barrier, which was threatening to break.

“NOOOOO!”, she screamed her lungs out when Caleb kicked her and used the chance to get hold of her… He threw her through the window, its broken glass cut her badly and she landed right at the bottom of the vampire’s feet. It looked curious for a moment and when she started getting up the thing leaned over and got into her face. Buffy’s eyes widened in horror, she’d never seen anything that scary before. The Master looked like a baby vampire compared to this monstrosity.

It caught her into its arms and no matter how hard she kicked or punched, she couldn’t free herself. It was like the thing was made of metal. Caleb started laughing, he was so immersed in staring at what he thought was the final defeat of the Slayer, that he didn’t notice that Willow had regained consciousness and was starting to be black eyed while conjuring what looked like miniature sun.

She aimed it at the creatures’ legs, knowing that the flames would shoot upward within seconds, and she didn’t want to hit Buffy accidentally, her friend was hurt enough.

Buffy tumbled to the ground when the vampire started burning and Caleb’s eyes widened almost comically. Willow’s power surprised him. Her eyes were completely black and it seemed that she was just warming up. Her fingertips were still producing tiny lightning bolts and he didn’t want to find himself on the receiving end, so he muttered something and vanished.

“Buffy!”, Willow ran to her friend straight away. Buffy was slowly getting up, and Willow helped her walk back inside. She looked so badly beaten, there were so many cuts on her that Willow was afraid to even touch her.

“You saved my life.”, Buffy whispered and passed out.

This was the first time that Faith was on a mission without Buffy, and she was a little nervous. She was trying to keep her Five By Five attitude, but it wasn’t easy. Everyone looked at her, expected her to lead cause she was the one with powers, and she’d never felt more lonely in her life. She remembered how she’d felt jealous of Buffy’s life, and now she understood there was nothing to be jealous about. Even surrounded by people, Buffy must have been the loneliest person in the world. She couldn’t wait to get home and just hold her, tell her that she wasn’t alone anymore and never would have to feel lonely again. To do that, first she needed to get into the High School and get out of it alive.

But, it seemed that something didn’t want her and the Gang to get inside. They got ambushed by the ugliest vampire specimen in the universe, and Faith’s jaw dropped a little. Faith had never seen anything like it. Vampires she’d slain had had human features, but this thing… there was nothing human about it. Its face was contorted, kinda ratty looking, with ugly and deadly looking teeth, which were coated in blood. It moved like a predator, slowly and with purpose. It didn’t appear to be worried about being surrounded by humans.

Giles thought it probably could feel power emanating from Faith cause it lunged straight at her. It kicked the Scythe out of her hand, and Faith thought it must have known that weapon was more dangerous than usual weapons. She had a stake hidden in her boot, and using all of her strength and speed, Faith rammed it into the thing’s chest. It didn’t even flinch, just pulled it out and threw it on the floor as it growled at Faith.

Normal stakes didn’t work on this thing, Faith thought that she should have guessed that. She remembered how she’d killed Kakistos… The improvised stake had been higher and heavier than Faith herself. The Scythe was out of her reach, and she really needed to get it.

Tara conjured a little ball of light and tried to shoot it at the vampire, which amazed Faith, but the ugly creature ducked at the right moment. The ball flew by it and lit a garbage can on fire. Tara’s attack wasn’t futile, though, it gave Faith a chance to reclaim the Scythe. That weapon felt so good in her hands, Faith grinned as she flung it at the creature and cut off its arm like it was made of butter. Blood sprayed her and she groaned, the vampire’s growls were blood chilling. It attacked her mindlessly, even Tara’s attempt of creating a barrier didn’t stop it.

Faith held onto the Scythe like it was a life line and she thought it wasn’t far from truth. Without it, she would have died. She looked around, the Gang was trying to fight, but they stood no chance against the vampire. The thing was throwing them around like they were rag dolls. It moved with incredible speed and managed to get hold of petrified Annabelle, who couldn’t move an inch when it grabbed her neck.

Tara yelled a few spells she thought would daze the vampire, but he’d snapped Anabelle’s neck and dropped her to the ground before Tara could even finish her incantations. Enraged, Faith ran at the creature at full speed and cut off its ugly head with one swift move of the Scythe. It turned to dust, and Faith was relieved that even these vampires died the same way: decapitation and staking.

“Uh, that was… Are you guys all ok?”

They all looked scared off of their wits, even Xander didn’t attempt to joke. Molly and Kennedy ran to Annabelle’s body and Kennedy whispered “We have to make sure her parents get the body. Dawn, can you call Buffy?”

There was no answer from Dawn and Kennedy turned, worried “Dawn??” Faith thought she’d get a heart attack. Where the hell was Squirt?!

“No, she didn’t…”, Faith whispered and sprinted to the basement. She didn’t care if a hundred vampires waited there, she couldn’t go home and tell Buffy that her sister had died on her watch. Kennedy ran right after her, and then everyone else followed, yelling Dawn’s name at the top of their lungs.

“DAWN!”, Faith screamed when she saw the girl lying in the middle of the Seal of Danzalthar, bleeding. The thing seemed to be closed, and Faith didn’t understand how, but she didn’t even care at that moment. She just cared if Dawn was alive. She caught her into her arms and listened to the pulse. It was there, but it was weak.

“Her blood must have closed the portal into the Hellmouth. She was right… her being the Key probably saved us all.”, Giles muttered, cleaning his glasses, which got misty when his eyes teared up with pride and love he felt for Dawn.

“Don’t just stand there, we need to take her to a hospital!”, Kennedy yelled at Faith, who glared at her, but didn’t say anything. Kennedy was worried, and Faith knew the feeling. She threw the Scythe to Kennedy and lifted Dawn up. Holding her tightly in her arms, Faith ran as fast as she could. Her lungs threatened to explode and her legs wanted to give in so many times, but she ran until she got to a hospital and screamed that she needed help.

Dawn was taken to surgery straight away, and Faith slowly walked to a pay phone and called Buffy. Willow and Buffy were in Buffy’s bedroom, Willow was trying to make her heal like Buffy had helped her heal after Gnarl’s attack, so Amanda answered the phone. The kid sprinted up to Buffy’s room and said “Faith called. Dawn’s in a hospital.”

Despite Willow’s protests, Buffy was up on her feet and ready to get out of the house.

“Please stay here, protect them, I gotta go.”, Buffy said to Willow. “We’re all going. Tara and the others must be there; we’ll be stronger together if we get attacked again. This house isn’t that safe with a huge hole where a window should be.”, Willow had her Resolve Face on and Buffy knew there was no point even trying to argue. They all ran to the car and Willow decided to drive because Buffy was too worried… The ride to the hospital was the longest ever, and when Buffy burst out of the car and saw Faith sitting in front of the hospital, smoking and crying, Buffy’s world crumbled…


	14. The Scary L Word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who loves whom and who is suddenly back?  
> Hmmm...

While running toward Faith, Buffy felt like she was stuck in a tidal wave that kept pulling her back. Despite running as fast as she could, she felt like it took her hours to get to her girl...

“Faith… Faith… is she…?”, Buffy couldn’t bring herself to say the D word, but a tear rolled down her cheek.

It seemed that Faith was lost in a movie that had been playing in her head, it took her a moment to comprehend what Buffy was asking. “Oh… No, no, babe, Dawn is out of the woods… just asleep now.”

“Oh… oh good. Good.”, Buffy whispered, relieved beyond words and she melted into a hug she’d been dying for.

“What happened to you, though? You look worse than you looked earlier, if that’s possible.”, Faith wiped her tears and frowned as she studied every cut and bruise on Buffy’s face. She swore she’d never let her out of her sight again.

“Caleb stopped by for a visit and brought a very ugly friend with him. That vampire was… so strong, like it was made out of steel. I couldn’t fight it, Faith.”, Buffy’s eyes were dark and big with fear and Faith tightened their hug. “If Willow hadn’t been there, it would have killed me.”

Hearing that made Faith’s blood run cold. She’d never felt that afraid before. She’d never had anyone she wanted to protect with her life before. Since she wasn’t a very skilled orator, Faith pulled Buffy into a kiss that would tell her everything that her vocal cords wouldn’t allow past her lips. She loved Buffy more than anything, she didn’t understand why it was so hard for her to actually tell her what exactly she felt and how deep her feelings actually were.

She felt Buffy’s body, it was so close, entwined with her own, like Buffy was trying to melt into her, and Faith deepened the kiss, as warmth spread over her body like a wave of lava. But this wasn’t lust she was feeling. It was love. It was like all the poets had described it in endless poems and stories. Two souls entangled, bound to each other, forever. Even thinking about poems and souls made Faith’s cheeks redden slightly. She’d never considered herself a sappy romantic, but it seemed that she was turning into one.

“Uh, hey… Dawnie is awake.”, Willow’s voice brought Buffy and Faith to reality. They both looked a little dazed and Willow hated to break such an intimate moment, but she thought that Buffy would like to be interrupted for that information.

Two Slayers were on their feet the next second. “Thanks, Will. Is she ok?”, Buffy asked, hoping for a positive answer. She was so nervous and anxious.

“She’s gonna be fine. No internal organs were harmed.”, Willow smiled and led Buffy and Faith to Dawn’s room. Faith also wanted to enter to see Dawn, but the doctor warned them that only one person at a time could enter the room. He also offered Buffy to check up on her, he worriedly observed bruises and cuts on her face and the way she favored one leg and hobbled to her sister’s room. She assured him she was all right and stubbornly entered Dawn’s room, pretty much closing the door at the doctor’s face.

“Dawn! Sweetie, are you ok?”, Buffy asked, relieved to see her sister awake. She embraced her, as gently as she could, and sat down on the edge of the bed. Tears flooded her eyes and Buffy let them run down her face. She had been so worried, she finally allowed herself to breathe again. She still didn’t understand what exactly had happened to Dawn, she had so many questions, but she didn’t wanna tire her sister now. She needed rest. Buffy assumed that she wouldn’t have too much time to rest now that she was a Potential Slayer. Attacks would just keep coming. Buffy just wanted it to be over. She was so tired of fighting, and even more tired of watching everyone die.

“I’m ok… no need for tears. The Hellmouth is closed.”, Dawn managed a little proud smile. It was the best thing she’d ever done. Now she could understand why Buffy had jumped off of the tower that night. There was something bigger at stake, a victory that would demand many lives to be laid down, and Dawn had been willing to give her own to make at least some difference.

“You could have bled out, though… you scared us all…”, Buffy said and noticed some disappointment on Dawn’s face. She understood where the disappointment was coming from, so she quickly added “I’m proud of you, Dawnie… I just don’t wanna lose you. You’re the only family I’ve got left. I hate that you’re a Potential Slayer because that means that you’ll never have a normal life either, and that’s what I’ve always wanted for you.”, a few more tears rolled down Buffy’s cheeks and Dawn weakly squeezed her hand.

“I’ve learned from the best, Buff. I’m gonna be ok. Besides, maybe, if we win this battle, maybe we’ll have a chance to actually live for a bit. Maybe YOU will finally be able to rest.”

Rest. Now, that sounded nice to Buffy. The only time she actually rested was when she was dead. She didn’t wanna die anymore, but she really wanted to have some time off to take a real vacation, with Faith. Dawn could tell that her sister was daydreaming from a little dazed and unfocused look on her face and she smiled.

“I knew you’d like that. Anyway, I have something to ask you.”

“Ask away… just no sex questions, please.”, Buffy joked to lighten up the mood.

“What do you think about Kennedy?”

A grin lightened up Buffy’s face. “If you like her, I like her too. I’ve been noticing some sparkage between you two.”, she winked and actually giggled when Dawn blushed.

“I really, really like her. I’ve never thought about girls that way, but she’s… she’s different, there’s something about her… I just... I’m crushing really hard.”

“I think she’s crushing back really hard. She would be stupid not to.”, Buffy smiled and Dawn grinned back happily. She was still a bit achey and drowsy, but so relieved and happy that Buffy approved of her budding relationship.

“You and Faith, though… Never thought I’d say this, but you two are relationship goals.”

“I… I don’t think we’re actually dating. I’m not sure. I just… I love her, Dawnie. It’s all happened so fast, but I know it’s real.”

“She loves you too. It’s obvious from a plane.”

“I know.”, Buffy said, and she wondered if Faith would actually ever say it to her. She couldn’t understand why it was so hard for her. She frowned slightly, and Dawn didn’t miss it.

“Why the frown then?”

“She told me she loved me when she didn’t think I’d hear her. But she seems to be afraid to say it to my face. Does she doubt our love? What if this is just a fling to her? What if she leaves after the battle?”

“Oh, Buffy. Don’t do this to yourself. Faith loves you. She’s not going anywhere. I just think… she hasn’t had much experience with love and it scares her to say it out loud because none else had ever said it to her before.”

“Why do you think that?”, Buffy asked, her heart breaking at the thought of that. She remembered how spooked Faith had been when she’d seen The First in the shape of her mother. Yeah, that woman probably hadn’t been very loving.

“Come on, B. I was just a kid when the whole Mayor drama happened. I know I wasn’t technically there, but I remember everything. She was just a kid, about my age, wasn’t she? And she’d flunked out of school and there was no one that ever looked for her. I don’t think she knew what it felt like to be loved. Till now.”

“You’re very observant.”, Buffy wiped tears away, feeling so guilty cause she’d never wondered about Faith’s family back then, or asked anything about her life. The only thing Faith had revealed had been names of losers she’d dated.

“Watcher Slayer.”, Dawn smiled and Buffy noticed that her eyes were closing.

“I’ll let you sleep… Love you.”, Buffy kissed her forehead and smiled when Dawn mumbled she loved her too.

Only Willow, Tara, Faith and Kennedy were in the waiting room when Buffy got out of Dawn’s room. Kennedy looked so hopeful, the first thing she said was “She’s falling asleep, but I think she’d like to see you.”

“Thanks!”, Kennedy said and ran into the room. She had so many questions for Dawn, but when she saw her lying there, her eyes barely open, she could only say

“Hi… just wanted to tell you to rest well, sleep tight and have nice dreams.”

She laid a gentle kiss on Dawn’s lips and the younger Summers managed a little smile.

“Will you stay with me?”, Dawn whispered.

“Of course.”, Kennedy promised, climbed onto the bed and wrapped her arm around Dawn. She felt guilty cause she hadn’t noticed Dawn run away to the basement. She promised to herself that she’d always keep her safe, even if Dawn got her Slayer powers before herself.

“Where are the others?”, Buffy asked as she slid onto an uncomfortable plastic chair in the waiting room. She was so tired, every bone in her body hurt.

“Xander and Giles headed home to fix the window and the others joined them to help and ‘go shower in peace’. Do you wanna stay here or…?”, Faith asked and gently rubbed her shoulder.

“Nah, it’s better we go home. I’m exhausted and I can’t do anything to help her… I think Kennedy’s staying with her.”, Buffy could see them curled up together through window blinds that weren’t completely closed.

“Yeah, let’s go. I’ll drive.”, Faith grinned as she pulled Buffy’s car key out of her jeans pocket. Shockingly, Buffy didn’t argue about it. She just sank into the passenger seat and she was asleep by the time they reached Revello.

She awoke with a start when Faith stepped on breaks a little abruptly, but she was too tired to comment on it. She just wanted a nice, hot shower. Glancing at the living room window, Buffy saw it was boarded up.

“Hey, Xand, thanks for…”, she started saying, but when she saw who was sitting on the couch, she stared in disbelief.

“What, you’re not happy to see an old friend?”, Cordelia Chase got up and greeted Buffy with her huge grin.

“Oh my god, Cordy, I thought…”

“Yeah, that coma was a drag… But, I’ve rested and now I’m ready to lend a hand. Sunnydale’s gone downhill since I’ve left.”

“It’s… it’s nice to have you back.”, Buffy hugged Cordy awkwardly. “I don’t know where you’re gonna sleep, but you can have Dawn’s room for tonight. She’s in a hospital.”

“Hey, Faith’s here too.”

“Cor.”, Faith said, coldly. She wasn’t sure if she could trust her after being The Beast Master. She had fooled everyone before, who was to say she wouldn’t do it again?

Buffy gave Faith a ‘down puppy’ look, and she frowned and said “Going to shower.”

Everyone wanted to know everything about Cordy and her L.A. life, which had turned out to be far from glamourous.

“Angel told me to say hi. He says he’ll come and help if you need him. Now that Jasmine’s defeated, he’s actually just chilling on his own. Uh, chilling is not a good word. Brooding. Brooding is perfect."

“It’s good that at least some things are constant in this crazy world.”, Xander commented and Cordy appreciatively looked at his clothes.

“And it’s good that some things have changed. Like, your fashion sense.”

“You can’t have Xander back.”, Anya glared at Cordy, who had to laugh.

“Xander is safe with you.”, Cordy grinned and then looked at Buffy, who seemed to be falling asleep on her feet. She looked exhausted and hurt, Cordy felt sorry for her. “Ok, well, it’s time for me to call it a night. I think Buffy needs her beauty sleep, too.”, she winked.

“More than ever. But, need to shower first. Faith, leave some hot water for me!”, she yelled and Faith yelled back “I’m out, just waiting for you!”

“Naked?? Ok, coming right uuuup!”, Buffy grinned at the expression on Cordy’s face. “Yes, we’re together.”

“Wow! I mean, you guys always had that really crazy tension going on, but… together?? Wow. Well, good for you!”

“See, wasn’t just me who noticed the tension!”, Xander chimed in.

“Seems like I was the only one who didn’t notice it!”, Buffy said, surprised, and led Cordy to Dawn’s room. Faith was on her way to Buffy’s bedroom, wearing just a red towel, and she said “Hurry.”

Grumpily, she acknowledged Cordy’s presence and said “Night” to her.

“Well, Cordy… sleep tight.”

“You too!”, Cordy grinned and Buffy ran into the shower, so happy she could finally relax a little. Hot water worked miracles, and she let herself be selfish for once, and she used all of hot water. With just a towel wrapped around her, she entered her room. Faith’s towel was on a hanger, and Buffy placed hers next to it and crawled into the bed naked.

She snuggled into Faith’s naked body and happily purred. “Mmmm, perfect.”, she whispered and Faith kissed her slowly. “It is.”

“You don’t mind Cordy being here, right?”, Buffy asked because her girl hadn’t been too happy to see her and to accept her to their ever growing Slaying circle.

“I can’t say I’m dancing with joy, or that I trust her, but if you’re not getting any vibes from her, and she’s obviously corporeal, maybe she’s really here to help.”

“Ok. Hey, Faith?”, Buffy whispered as she kissed her neck gently.

“Yes?”

“You’re not gonna leave when… if… we defeat this Big Bad?”, Buffy decided to ask and she could feel a lump forming in her throat when Faith looked at her, surprised and not answering.

“Faith?”, Buffy whispered, even her voice trembled. She was more afraid of losing Faith than facing The First.

“I love you, B. I’m not going anywhere.”, Faith whispered and swallowed hard. She looked like a scared big eyed doe when Buffy looked at her, surprised but happy.

“I love you too, Faith. No need to be scared… Just let yourself be happy.”, Buffy kissed her with as much passion and love she pulled out of her exhausted body.

“I am happy… I can’t even believe how happy.”

“Good. I’m happy too.”, Buffy whispered and Faith snuggled up to her. Their naked bodies were like their souls, entwined together.

 _I gotta stop thinking about souls and that shit. I’m becoming so damn sappy.,_ Faith thought as she closed her eyes, but a little smile appeared in the corner of her mouth…


	15. Helping the Helpless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cordy's got a few surprises and Faith's got jealousy issues

“So, Cordy, what kind of moron would ever come back to Sunnydale?”, Buffy couldn’t help teasing, she remembered what Cordelia had said a long time ago, while they were still in High School, thinking it was the worst thing they’d ever face in life. She sipped her coffee, thankful that Faith had promised to train with the Potentials instead of her.

Cordy had to admit that she deserved that, so she laughed. In her wildest dreams, she’d never thought that she’d return to this hell hole. But then again, she’d never thought that she’d get visions and become part demon, or a Higher Power or an incubator for evil monsters or in a coma. Her life had been a series of painful experiences, which, she liked to think, made her stronger.

“Ha ha, very funny.”, Cordy grinned and sipped her coffee. They were in Espresso Pump and talking for the last two hours. Buffy’s head was spinning from all the stuff Cordy had been through and she thought that being ripped out of Heaven had been a traumatizing experience. The most fascinating bit was when Cordy told her about being the Higher Power, Buffy barely wrapped her head around it.

“Higher Power? You?”, she teased again, she loved how easily they slipped into roles of old friends, none of them was uncomfortable, there were no awkward silences between them. They weren’t kids from Sunnydale High anymore, they were both warriors.

“Trust me, I was shocked too.”, Buffy loved that Cordy joked about that too, without getting all weird about it. She grinned and they both giggled. From what Buffy heard, Cordy’s time as Higher Power had been a lot like her own Heavenly Experience. The difference was that she’d loved being in Heaven, and Cordy had been bored off her head.

During her time up in the clouds, Cordelia gained incredible knowledge and insight, but she didn’t think that she’d have a chance to use it to help anyone after being hijacked and turned into a Beast Master, who birthed Jasmine, the Ugliest Evil.

“I got tired of watching Angel’s past, as fascinating as it had been, so I turned my eye toward you…”

Buffy bowed her head “You must have witnessed my incredible fails of last year.”

“Sadly, that too. Spike, of all creatures… But, that doesn’t touch you, Buffy. You’re a pretty badass woman if you haven’t noticed. It’s ok to be vulnerable and stupid sometimes.”, Cordy squeezed her hand because she could see shame and discomfort in Buffy’s green eyes.

“As fascinating as your sex life may have been, the fact that you got resurrected beats it by a long shot.”

“Yeah, I’m a miracle. That’s what everyone kept saying.”, Buffy almost snorted when she remembered the past year, she hadn’t felt like much of a miracle.

“Buffy, you are a miracle. Without you, this world would have been destroyed years ago. I know it sucks to be this hero everyone expects to never fail and to always be there. So, they brought you back… Their selfishness caused a lot of badness.”

“Yeah… If they hadn’t brought me back, Tara wouldn’t have died, Warren wouldn’t have attacked anyone, Willow wouldn’t have gone bad…”, her eyes got a bit misty and she blinked.

“I’m very happy that you’re still alive and kicking, Buff, but if they hadn’t brought you back, The First wouldn’t have been able to strike.”

The look on Buffy’s face was pure shock before it dropped and Cordy felt like she’s somehow pulled her soul out with those words.

“Buffy, don’t even think…”

“If they hadn’t brought me back, none of this would be happening… So many girls all over the world wouldn’t have died. Great… Perfect. I’m not world’s savior, I’m its doom.”, Buffy lost appetite for her coffee and croissant… It tasted like ash. She felt like she condemned the world to burn.

“Don’t be stupid, Buffy, this isn’t your fault.”, Cordy whispered and caught her friend’s hand.

“Feels like it is, Cor. Listen… I’m gonna take a walk to clear my head.”, Buffy said and pulled her hand away from Cordy’s. She got up and was ready to bolt.

“Buffy, wait! I can help you! The PTB owed me for the job that almost got me killed along with the rest of the world. I have magical powers that could beat Willow’s. Hers are tainted now because of all the murder and stuff.”

She’d gotten up, but Buffy needed to sit back down. Her mouth was slightly open for a minute, and then she said “What? Wait… what?”, she realized she was floating over Sunnydale, feeling so safe in Cordy’s embrace. Now, that was something she never thought she’d think. “Oh my god, how are you doing this?”

“Magic. You should see me when I get pissed.”

They landed back in their chairs, it seemed that no one had noticed their absence.

“You don’t turn all black eyed and veiny, right?”, Buffy smiled, her heart was practically dancing in her chest.

Cordy laughed “Nah, no blackness. Had my share of it.”

For the first time, Buffy felt like she had a real chance of defeating The First. A huge smile lit up her face, she felt like she was actually glowing.

“Homecoming Queens for the win.”, Cordelia grinned as they stared at each other, holding hands. There was nothing sexual or romantic behind that, but it looked that way to Faith, who glared at them through the window.

She jumped a little when The Mayor appeared next to her and said “That slut. Looks like she welcomes all of her friends with open… legs.”

Faith clenched her jaw. Buffy and Cordy looked so intimate, so lost in their own moment. She tried so hard to block out The First’s taunting, but it wasn’t easy. The damn thing knew exactly what to say. She was angry at herself for believing Buffy when she said she loved her, and for saying those three words to Buffy.

Not to cause a scene, Faith turned on her heel and left. After a long time, she wanted to cause some damage… She lit a cigarette to calm down, but she couldn’t. This was too much. The First just wouldn’t shut up, and Faith stomped on the ciggie and ran as fast as she could.

Buffy and Cordy literally teleported on the threshold of Buffy’s house, which was one more incredible gift that Cordy had now.

“Holy mother of…”, Buffy whispered, her head was spinning and she had the biggest grin on her face. “FAITH!”, she yelled cause her girl was nowhere to be seen, while everyone else showed up when they heard a loud pop they made when they appeared.

“She’s in the basement, training.”, Willow said, trying to figure out what had just happened.

“Cordy will fill you in.”, Buffy said when she correctly interpreted curiosity on her friend’s face. She ran to the basement, so excited to share her news with Faith.

“Faith, oh my god, I have so much to…”, she shut up when Faith punched her so hard she flew and got sprawled over the stairs.

“Faith, what…?!”, she asked, shocked off her wits. The woman who had told her she’d loved her just the previous night, looked so angry and out of her mind, and Buffy couldn’t understand why. Her head buzzed when she hit it against the floor, her wound opened and blood streamed over her face.

Breathing hard, she got up and this time she caught Faith’s arm just when she wanted to punch her again.

“I can’t believe I trusted you when you said you loved me! I can’t believe I let my guard down, you bitch!”, Faith yelled and Buffy’s jaw dropped.

“What the hell are you talking about?!”, Buffy yelled and punched back, she wasn’t gonna let anyone accuse her of something she hadn’t done.

“You and Cordy! Being all googly eyed, behind my back, holding hands and everything! Just how stupid do you think I am?!, Faith yelled and Buffy was so taken aback by that accusation, she didn’t even try to stop another blow that split her lip open.

“How dare you?!”, Buffy yelled and even hurt and beaten as she was, she grabbed Faith by the shirt and pushed her against the wall. She held her in place, tightly.

“Nothing happened with Cordy, you idiot! She’s here to help us! I was coming down her to tell you everything, cause it’s pretty damn beyond incredible, but I’m not in the mood now. Stay away from me.”, Buffy glared and walked away, her heart breaking as she wiped blood off her lips and forehead with her sleeve.

Everyone was busy listening to Cordy’s story, with their mouths open, and Buffy quietly got out, jumped in her car and drove away to the hospital, to visit Dawn.

She knocked on the door before she entered Dawn’s room, she didn’t wanna interrupted if young lovers were kissing or cuddling.

“Hi, Buffy… Damn, sis, you look even worse than yesterday.”, Dawn looked worried, and Kennedy nodded. “I’m with Dawn. What did you slam your face against?”

“Faith’s fist.”, Buffy said and flinched when she touched her forehead.

“Damn. I thought you two were cuddly now.”, Dawn frowned.

“I thought so too.”, Buffy whispered, her heart was breaking. “Never mind that, how are you today? Ready to come home? Oh, and we have a new guest who borrowed your bedroom.”

“We do? Well, you’ll have to find a better place for the new guest. Who is it? Another Potential?”

“Cordy.”

“Oh my god, really??”, Dawn smiled, she’d always liked Cordy, even back when Buffy hadn’t thought of her as a friend.

“Yeah. Faith kinda freaked.”, Buffy pointed to her bruised and bloody face.

“At least she didn’t stab you.”, Dawn waved her head. “Geez, Buff, you and Faith can’t do anything the way normal people do, can you? You can’t just sit and talk, you have to attack, punch and kick and stab.”

“You’ve got a point. Oh well… um… Ok, I’m going to find your doctor and see when I can take you home.”, Buffy said and excused herself. _Dawn’s right. Faith and I suck at talking. I thought we were learning, and that it was going pretty well, but… She said she loved me. Now I don’t know what to think._

The doctor kept looking at her worriedly while talking to her. “Miss Summers, you look worse than yesterday. Are you in some kind of trouble? Is someone abusing you?”

“Ohhh, no, no, don’t worry, it’s nothing like that. I do… karate and tae kwon do. Sometimes things get a bit out of control. I’m ok. I’m just worried about my sister. Is she ok? Can I take her home?”

“Ok… but if you change your mind, you can talk to me.”, the doctor smiled sympathetically. “And yes, you can take your sister home.”

“Thanks, doc.”, Buffy said, she couldn’t wait to get out of there. Despite feeling sad and anxious about her fight with Faith, she smiled widely when Dawn squealed excitedly. Summers sisters hugged and as they walked toward the car, Dawn said “I’m gonna have to talk to Faith and warn her about the possibility of wiping the floor with her ass if she just looks at you funny.”

“Dawn, the world is gonna be either the safest or scariest place when you get your powers.”

“I’m gonna slay so hard.”, Dawn grinned. Buffy was in a much better mood now, and she sang along to Roxette’s ‘It Must Have Been Love’ while driving back home…


	16. Scythe Matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy and Faith VS Caleb and the Bringers

After Buffy had left, Faith headed to the kitchen to take a snack, and she couldn't help listening to Cordy's story. It wasn't eavesdropping, it kinda concerned her too. She felt so guilty and horrible for attacking Buffy when she hadn't done anything wrong. And now she probably lost her forever. Tears prickled at her eyes and Faith wasn’t hungry suddenly. She took a deep breath and got out of the house. She needed some peace and quiet, so she went to one of her favorite places: the roof of the Sun Cinema. She could see the whole town from up there, and she also saw Buffy’s car when it passed by. It seemed that Dawn was good to go home, it was a good thing.

Faith lit a cigarette and replayed the whole scene from earlier in her head. _Why did I have to attack her? Was it because I’d told her that I loved her? Cause I expected her to stomp all over that the first chance she got? How can she love me? How is it possible? I actually had the most amazing woman in the world and I blew it. She’s not stupid to forgive me such an attack. B deserves better than me, who am I kidding, I can’t believe I even dared to think that we would work it out and be an actual couple. Souls entwined, forever… whatever, Faith. You idiot. You complete and utter idiot._

She put out her cigarette and lit another one straight away, as tears ran down her face. Tears were a sign of weakness and Faith hated to cry. Feelings like love and happiness weren’t something that Faith was familiar with, and now that she experienced both, she didn’t think she had the right to keep them.

When she finished her second cigarette, Faith headed back to Revello Drive. Still, she took a longer route, she didn't want to get there too soon. Even as distracted as she was, Faith could feel her Slayer sense tingling when she passed what seemed to be an old, abandoned vineyard. She seriously doubted it was abandoned, so she pulled her stake and a knife out of her boots and she sneaked to a small, dirty window and peeked through.

Bringers were there, listening to Caleb’s hateful preaching. They were blind and mute, but Faith could vividly imagine them cheering for the priest. It seemed that they could sense her presence, and Faith carefully retreated. She wasn’t as reckless as she’d been as a teenager, but when she saw an opportunity, she killed one of the wandering Bringers by throwing her knife straight into its heart. There was one cool thing about Bringers, they couldn’t make any sounds and she was able to slay them without being noticed. She didn’t want to risk too much, though, she was sure that The First would tell Caleb about her presence any second now, so she just ran toward Revello.

Excited about her discovery, she almost forgot that she’d hurt Buffy so she flinched when she saw that beautiful face all bruised. There were about five shades of purple and green on Buffy’s face. The blonde didn’t seem to be in the best mood, but Faith couldn’t blame her.

“B, I…”, she reached out slowly and carefully, but Buffy made a few steps back and glared at her. “Don’t come any closer.”

“I’m s…”, Faith wanted to apologize, but Buffy cut her off with a sharp: “Don’t.” Her voice was ice, her eyes fire, Faith abruptly closed her mouth.

It was obvious from space that Buffy was beyond angry, she was furious. “Where the hell have you been, Faith?! You weren’t supposed to leave the girls alone!”

The girls weren’t alone, they were surrounded by three most powerful witches in history, but Faith knew that Buffy just wanted to find an excuse to yell at her. Faith sat down on the stairs and lit a cigarette, pointedly ignoring Buffy when her cute nose scrunched up in distaste.

“I’ve found Caleb’s hidey hole. He’s all cozy with his Bringer pals in this… I think it’s a vineyard. Killed one of them, but there were like a dozen more…”

Buffy’s interest was piqued; Faith could almost see her ears perk up.

“We gotta ambush them.”, Buffy said matter of factly, “Right now, during daylight. They won’t be expecting us and Uber Vamps won’t be able to attack us.”

“B, we can’t just barge in. Caleb is wicked strong on his own, and those Bringers are extremely fast and deadly for blind… things.”, Faith couldn’t believe that she was the reasonable one. Years ago, she had been the thoughtless one and Buffy had thought too damn much.

“Ah, Faith, so sweet of you to worry.”, sarcasm coated every letter of every word. “The bruises you’ve given me are my favorite of the whole collection.”

“I’ve tried to apologize, B.”

“I don’t want your apology, Faith. I don’t want anything from you.”

Faith didn’t know that her heart could actually hurt… But she could practically hear it break into pieces.

 _Well done, Faith. Of course you had to chase her away a second after admitting your feelings,_ Faith thought and silently cursed herself, but she didn’t say a word.

“I’m going to this vineyard, Faith, with or without you.”, Buffy glared at her and went to take the Scythe.

“Yes, ma’am General.”, Faith scowled and followed the bossy blonde. Her weapon of choice was a badass looking sword, while Buffy took the Scythe. They armed themselves with stakes and holy water bombs, which were always a good distraction because holy water burnt all the unholy creatures, and despite his outfit, Caleb belonged in that group.

They walked in silence almost the whole time, and Faith couldn’t take it anymore. She wasn’t one to enjoy even ‘comfortable silences’ that people always talked about, and this one was so far from comfortable, it was deafening. Buffy’s gaze was pointedly avoiding Faith and the brunette jumped in her way, grabbed her by the shoulders and said “Ok, stop acting like a brat! I’ve made a mistake, that doesn’t mean that I don’t love you. The First was messing with my head, B. Like, really bad this time. It kept telling me things…”

“And you believed it!”, Buffy shook Faith’s hands off of herself, her nostrils flaring with anger inside her.

“I don’t have experience with good relationships, B, with trust and shit! When my feelings get hurt, I lash out! I’m really working on fixing that, but I can’t fix my whole personality at once!”

“I don’t want you to fix your personality! I just want you to trust me!”

“I’m really trying, B! You didn’t see what it looked like from my perspective!”

“I don’t care what it LOOKED like, Faith! It WASN’T like that, but you jumped to conclusions!”

They were standing in the middle of a field and yelling at each other, unaware of danger. Their senses were so focused on each other and the Bringers easily circled them and attacked with their sharp, pointy knives. They both got cut, but it was a wakeup call they needed. The next second they were fighting, kicking and punching, slicing and stabbing with their sword and Scythe.

Out of ten Bringers, eight were lying on the floor and two escaped. Breathing hard, they high fived each other…

“You’re hurt.”, Buffy said and gently touched Faith’s arm. It seemed that her anger burnt out in the fight. “So are you.”, Faith pointed at a bloody stain on Buffy’s belly.

“Just a scratch.”, Buffy said and cried in surprise and pain when Faith suddenly jumped on her and threw her on the ground.

“What…?”, Buffy asked, and inhaled sharply when she saw a knife fly them by.

“Darn. I thought it was an excellent hand movement.”, Caleb lopsidedly smiled at the Slayers.

Buffy couldn’t take her eyes off of Faith, who grabbed her Scythe and jumped to her feet without thinking. The bastard fought well even without weapons, he kicked Faith so hard she actually managed a somersault and somehow landed on her feet. The beauty of Slayer reflexes.

“I was sorry to interrupt your lovers’ quarrel, but thought this would be much funner. I just expected my boys to cause more damage. Ah, well… There’s still time for that.”, Caleb grinned and flung himself at Faith, but Buffy managed to jump, grab him by the leg and send him tumbling to the ground.

“Bitch!”, he yelled and kicked her in the head. Buffy, whose head was tired of being hit lately, felt dizzy and couldn’t react fast enough, so he managed to kick her once more, hard enough for her to pass out.

“B!”, Faith yelled and jumped at the priest, furiously punching and kicking. He kept trying to kick the Scythe out of her hands, but she held on to it tightly. He grabbed the sword and gave Faith a run for her money, he was fast and skilled and she was getting breathless while he didn’t seem to even be breaking a sweat.

She kept glancing at Buffy, who was slowly stirring, but she didn’t want her to wake up and get in the thick of things straight away…

Caleb noticed her gaze wander toward Buffy every now and then and he sprinted to the blonde and placed the sword under her neck. Faith froze, but Buffy managed to react despite the feeling of nausea. She flipped him over, quickly grabbed the sword and let out a relieved breath when Faith slammed the pointy end of the Scythe through his heart.

“B, don’t get up. You might be concussed.”, she said and gently embraced her girl and kissed the top of her head.

“One of these times I’m gonna break Giles’ record for number of times I got knocked unconscious.”, Buffy tried to joke, but Faith was right. She was feeling very dizzy and nauseous, like she might throw up if she moved.

Her eyes widened when Caleb stood up, his eyes black, black goo spilling down his face like tar tears. She pushed Faith down, fighting dizziness the best she could.

“You haven’t finished this battle, bitch!”, Caleb glared at Faith, who stared at him with open mouth. He was holding Buffy’s sword and was ready to swing it, the thing dangerously leveled with Faith’s neck. His focus was on a clean cut and his eyes widened in shock when Buffy’s Scythe connected with his balls and continued cutting upward, until there were two halves of evil preacher laying on the ground.

“Holy fuck, B…”, Faith whispered, unable to move or say a longer sentence. Buffy sat down next to her, breathing hard and fast. Adrenaline was a good thing, like medicine for a Slayer.

“You ok?”, they asked at the same time and nodded. It was like their brainwaves connected and the next second their lips crashed together in a passionate kiss.

“Good day, don’t you think?”, Faith grinned.

“Yeah, we fought and slayed and kicked ass and made up… Yup, good day.”

“C’mon, let’s go home.”, Faith caught Buffy’s hand and helped her up. They held hands the whole time, and this time silence wasn’t deafening… It was relaxing.


	17. Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy and Faith share their power and someone unexpected shows up

The news of Caleb's demise, and the way he'd died, cheered everyone up immensely. Giles didn’t even try to pretend he was cleaning his glasses, he just let a tear run down his cheek.

For the first time in a while, Scoobies allowed themselves a bit of a rest. Sunnydale was practically empty now, people had been moving away in masses lately, and Willow was able to magically steal alcohol from a local shop that had closed a while ago. Technically, it wasn't stealing.

“Damn, fighting like that does stuff to me…”, Faith groaned as she sat on the floor and sipped her JD. Buffy, who didn’t hear what Faith had said, sat on her lap and sipped her own drink, something that looked sickeningly sweet to Faith.

“You’re a tease, B, really…”, Faith growled in her ear and pulled her as close to her own body… Her hands moved under Buffy’s shirt and she was surprised that Buffy let them wander a little…

“I’m a tease? Do you know the meaning of the word, F?”, Buffy turned her head a little as she whispered in Faith’s ear.

They described the surge of power they both felt while wielding the Scythe, and Kennedy looked a little dreamy when she commented: “Fuck, it would be so awesome if you could share your power with us… I so can’t wait to become a Slayer.”

“Oh, I wish… that would be helpful…”, Buffy nodded, looking wistful.

Cordelia, who had been pretty quiet till then, jumped to her feet and caught the Scythe in her hands, admiring it.

“Can you also feel it?”, Buffy asked.

“No, must be a Slayer thing, but… Kennedy’s comment got me thinking… This is a very powerful magical object. Maybe…”, she looked at Willow, “Maybe we could pull it off.”

“Pull what… oh!”, Willow’s eyes widened “The Power. The SHARING of the power!”

“You… you think that might idea could actually work??”, Ken looked so delighted, Dawn had to smile. Buffy and Faith looked at each other and Buffy jumped to her feet.

“Yes! That’s the best idea ever! Oh, Kennedy, I could KISS YOU.”

“Don’t you dare!”, Faith and Dawn said at once, and Kennedy winked when Buffy laughed heartily.

“Can you please research? Faith and I could… we could supercharge it or something.”

“You know, that sounds kinda naughty.”, Tara couldn’t help wiggling her eyebrows at Buffy, which made the blonde Slayer laugh again. She was in such a good mood!

“Let’s say we pull it off… women all over the world get their powers… Some of them would probably go crazy, not knowing what’s happening… Power can be… bad.”, Faith remembered her own recklessness when she became a Slayer.

“Yeah, I guess… but we can think about that after the world doesn’t end, Fai… We could really use this super boost! You know, when they made the first Slayer, she didn’t have a choice! They slammed that power into her, and she had to slay… until she kicked it. It’s different this time! You girls can CHOOSE if you wanna be Chosen! So, are you ready?”, Buffy’s eyes were sparkling with hope and excitement, Faith wanted to kiss her so badly. Her whole body was still throbbing for sex after all that action.

“So… this is it, yeah? We go down to the Hellmouth and fuckin’ slay them all?”, Faith also got up, actually loving the idea of more carnage and epic sex afterwards.

“Will, sweetie, you, Cordy and I should go talk this all out, research and make a plan.”, Tara chimed in, she loved the fact that she was alive again and able to help save the world and get a happy ending of her own. Maybe they would all manage to have a normal life after all. Maybe it wouldn’t all be about demons and vampires anymore.

“Yes, baby, let’s go.”, Willow caught Tara’s hand and Buffy suddenly had such urge to hug them, so she pulled two surprised witches into a bone crushing hug with a squeal “I LOVE YOU GUYS!”

“Aww, Buff, we love you too! Caaan’t breatheee!”, Willow choked out and Buffy let go of them, a huge smile plastered on her face.

“Come on, B, I need your help with something too.”, Faith pulled her hand impatiently and Buffy wanted to ask what it was, but when she looked into Faith’s eyes, she didn’t have to.

Giles didn’t think he needed to say anything, he just observed everyone. They all turned into powerful women and even Xander had grown up a little- he didn’t think that would ever happen. Everyone seemed much happier and optimistic, and Giles thought it was a good thing and started thinking they had a chance to win this battle.

The Chosen Two ran to the bathroom to have a shower together, but two minutes later, Faith was down on her knees, with Buffy’s legs wrapped around her as she licked her hungrily… Buffy was surprised, Faith wasn’t usually the kneeling type, but she figured it was Faith’s way of apologizing for going crazy… and this kind of an apology was definitely working…

“Oh, god, Faith, fuck…”, Buffy’s moans turned Faith on even more, she never wanted to stop eating her out… She was so damn yummy… She added her fingers to the mix, determined to make Buffy cum into her mouth… Buffy’s legs were turning to jelly, and she was glad that Faith was holding her tightly, running her nails over Buffy’s thighs…

Faith’s fingers and tongue were thrusting harder and faster, Buffy was overwhelmed by all the passion Faith was obviously feeling for her… “FAITHHHH!”, Buffy screamed as she came and Faith still wasn’t moving away, she was still licking and sucking, purring happily…

As soon as Faith stood up, Buffy kissed her with all the passion and love she was feeling… “Let me return the favor, babe.”

Buffy slid down, her tongue was just about to touch Faith’s wet, hot center, when someone started knocking on the door like all the devils just descended to Earth.

“FUCK OFF!”, Faith yelled and pushed Buffy’s head closer… The blonde looked up and winked, and Faith couldn’t even believe that she actually started licking, pretending that there had been no knocking.

“Good girl…”, Faith whispered and ran her fingers through Buffy’s hair.

Faith moaned, to let the person at the door know to get the fuck lost, but the next second Dawn yelled “BUFFY!! BRINGERS!!”

Buffy and Faith jumped to their feet at the same time, both cursing loudly and bumping into each other, they almost fell, but somehow managed to keep each other balanced.

“Hurry!”, Dawn yelled, they heard screaming and sounds of breaking, this was bad and they were trying to find their underwear. They burst out of the bathroom, still wet, wearing just their underwear (Buffy pink, Faith black), thinking they must have fallen asleep and started dreaming something really strange. Shared dreams weren’t that uncommon among Slayers, right?

They jumped into the thick of things, kicking punching and slashing with anything they could find. They were both extremely pissed off about being interrupted, so they easily slew those annoying eyeless jerks.

When they stopped moving, breathing hard and fast, they realized that everyone was staring at them with open mouths.

“What are you… oh, right.”, Buffy asked, looked down on her own body and blushed a little.

“You should make slaying in your underwear a new trend.”, Kennedy nodded thoughtfully and Dawn hit her arm. “You’re not supposed to be ogling my sister!”

“Sorry, babe… My eyes don’t seem to be cooperating at the moment!”

“Well, make them cooperate, Junior, or I’ll close them with a shiner.”, Faith said only half joking.

“Nice underwear, though.”, Willow had to agree with Kennedy, but her comment was aimed at Faith, which surprised her a little, because she always thought that Willow didn’t particularly like her… even if they’ve started understanding each other a bit better lately.

Buffy grabbed Xander’s jacket, put it on and threw a blanket at Faith. “No casualties?”, she asked, serious.

“I think my arm is broken.”, Caridad said, her eyes full of tears.

“Oh… um, Xander, can you drive her to the hospital? I hope we still have one.”, Buffy frowned and apologetically looked at Faith… She wanted her so badly… but they would have to wait a bit longer.

“Sure, Buff.”, Xander saluted and less than five minutes later his car was full of girls who needed stitches or something.

Faith and I quickly changed into something less comfortable and exchanged a few kisses before we were summoned by our version of the Charmed ones.

“Ok, ladies. Let me look into your palms.”, Tara said and gently caught our hands.

“Gonna read us our future?”, Faith asked Tara, smirking slightly, and Willow lifted a knife and said “No, I’m gonna cut your palms. Need your blood.”

“Of course you do.”, Faith sighed and watched blood trickle down into a cup, and Buffy’s joined it a second later.

“Ok, perfect. Can you both hold on to the Scythe now, with your cut hand?”, Cordy handed them the weapon and they both felt a powerful buzz when they wrapped their hands around it.

“Whoa.”, Buffy whispered. They closed their eyes and Willow, Tara and Cordy started chanting… Willow, who was the wicca in charge, suddenly got super charged, her eyes turned dark, but her hair turned white. Tara and Cordy couldn’t take their eyes off of Willow. Their energy flew into the Potential Slayers, who got a huge rush, and those who were living with Buffy knew what it was. They were delighted, feeling powerful and unstoppable. Even their wounds started closing and Caridad’s broken arm hardly hurt.

Dawn and Kennedy were jumping around and high fiving each other and of course they had to celebrate with a kiss.

Buffy, Faith, Willow, Tara and Cordy could FEEL Slayers awakening everywhere, it felt amazing.

“We can win this fight together.”, Buffy said, feeling confident and amazed.

“We can do anything together.”, Faith smiled and looked into Buffy’s eyes.

“We don’t doubt that for a second.”, said Giles and Angel who appeared at the door.


	18. Live

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Final Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic has just reached its final chapter and I would like to thank you all for reading and taking the journey with me.

Giles and Angel grinned when both Slayers jumped up to hug the usually broody vampire. Tara, who'd never seen Angel before, said “He’s got an interesting hairstyle.”

I call it “Gelled straight up.”, Cordy said and also got up to hug her almost- love. She knew that there’d been something between them, but she also thought it might be way too late for them now.

“Heard you might need some help.”, Angel said to Buffy and handed her a necklace.

“By giving me jewelry? Um… it’s… big.”, Buffy looked confused and Angel smiled.

“Don’t worry, you’re not the one that has to wear it. I’ve made peace with having to look like Audrey Hepburn.”

“What? Why do you think it’s not for me?”, Buffy asked, she was kinda used to getting shiny things now.

“It could be dangerous, someone shady gave it to me. I can’t risk you, I’m more expendable.”

“You’re not expendable, at all.”, Buffy said and Faith grinned “Ditto.”

Angel looked at Buffy and Faith curiously, they looked pretty happy close to each other and his very sensitive vampire nose told him they had been all over each other a short while before.

“You can smell us, can’t you?”, Faith asked, he didn’t have to say anything, she got to know him quite well.

“Faith, what…?”, Buffy asked and blushed a little when Angel said “Yes, I can. I’m happy for you two, you both deserve happiness.”

“And so do you, just don’t get too happy, ok?”, Buffy smiled and got curious when she caught a glance shared between Angel and Cordy. She lifted her eyebrow and Cordy said “For a while we thought there might be something between us, but it all went to hell. Better for everyone, I think.”

Dawn, Kennedy, Xander, Anya and all the other newly activated Slayers burst into the house and started talking all at once. They were all excitedly chirping about their new power and they just couldn’t wait to leap into action and slay some asses. Buffy looked like a proud and worried parent and Kennedy said “Don’t worry, Buffy, we’re gonna make you proud!”

Buffy had to smile. “I’m sure you are. Now, girls, are you ready to slay tonight?”

“YAY!”, the N,ewly Chosen Slayers roared.

“We’ve just changed History, so I think we deserve a drink.”, Faith grinned and pulled a bottle of JD out of her mini fridge.

“Faith, we can’t…”

“One drink, B.”

“Ok, fineee!”

They were all in good spirits and feeling positive about the upcoming battle. The First who was spying on them wasn’t entertained, it was pissed as hell.

As soon as the sun set and Angel was allowed to go out, the little gang marched toward Sunnydale High. The Seal of Danzalthar may have been closed, but Buffy knew she would have to open it now to enter the Hellmouth. She thought, if she were to die, it would be fitting for her to go out at a place that had tried to kill her countless times… Good old Sunnydale High.

“Dawnie open the door.”, Buffy said when they got to the entrance of the Hellmouth, feeling terrified about her sister’s fate, but also incredibly proud.

“Sure, sis.”, Dawn said and Buffy looked at her like she wanted to say something touchy feely, but the younger Summers Slayer stopped her “No, Buffy, we’ll talk later. Let’s go kick some ass.”

Buffy nodded and looked at Faith, who pulled her into a kiss and said “You owe me mind blowing sex after this battle, B.”

“Looking forward to it, Faith.”, Buffy winked, squeezed the Scythe in her hand and led her army into the belly of the beast… or well, into its mouth.

They had expected an army of Turok Hans, but when they saw its size, their jaws dropped and everyone stared in horror. There were so many, Buffy didn’t know how the hell they would win. All of her hope drained out of her body along with the color from her face and she whispered: “Ok, it’s ok, we have time until they…”

“See us?”, Dawn gulped loudly when the beasts’ gazes landed on them.

Everyone jumped into action, it was kind of a blur, they were like bugs compared to the vast majority of the ancient vampires.

“Hey, Buffy, doesn’t this necklace make me look gorgeous?”, Angel joked, he didn’t want to get into the possibly last battle ever all morose and broody. He thought he might make Buffy smile, and he was pleased when her lips curled up and said “Stunning.”

He started fighting with her, and thought she was the most incredible thing he’d ever seen. Always so beautiful and lethal at the same time. Her body moved with such precision and aim, her Scythe kept slashing, cutting off vampires’ heads…

He was standing in between her and Faith and he said “Shoulder to shoulder, I’m yours…” and suddenly he stumbled backwards. The necklace was burning him and he looked at it, wide eyed.

Buffy and Faith stared at him for a moment and vampires used their chance to attack the Original Slayers.

“Buffy!”, Angel and Faith screamed when the blond fell down to her knees, holding on to her belly.

“Angel!”, Buffy managed to say when she saw light coming out of that weird accessory around his neck. She threw the Scythe to Faith, who looked horrified, but managed to pull herself together when Buffy said “Slay them all.”

“B!”, Faith said, so torn between helping Buffy and killing vampires. They didn’t give her much choice so she picked up the Scythe and angrily attacked the monsters that dared to hurt her girl.

Buffy, who was lying on the ground, wincing in pain, looked around and her got filled with tears of pride when she saw Dawn and her friends fight. Her mouth circled in a silent scream when she saw Anya fall down, dead. She saw a few more Junior Slayers die and she couldn’t, wouldn’t allow any more death to happen. The wound hurt her like a bitch, but she forced herself to get up when Angel screamed her name with such terror in his voice. It was like the light was coming out of him, making him look like a real angel.

Her heart was breaking, she didn’t want Angel to burn… Somehow she pulled herself up and ran to him.

“Buffy… I love you. I’m so proud to die fighting by your side.”

“Angel… oh god.”, she whispered. The scene unfolding before her was magical. The light coming from Angel’s necklace was killing Turok Hans… They were screaming, and the ceiling of the Hellmouth started caving in.

“Buffy!!!!”, Faith screamed because she was the only one who wasn’t running toward the exit.

She managed to kiss Angel’s lips slowly and say “I love you, always will, you know that.” And then he went into flames like a torch. It was like her body froze, she couldn’t move for a moment and Faith actually had to drag her out.

The brunette was so scared of losing Buffy; she was shaking as she screamed “MOVE! WE HAVE TO GET OUT! WE CAN BOTH MOURN HIM LATER, IF WE DON’T FUCKIN’ DIE!”

Buffy was in so much pain, but she caught Faith’s hand and ran with her. There was a bus parked on a bus stop by the school and Giles was the wheel man. When they entered the bus, Buffy and Faith looked around to see if everyone made it… of course, except Anya and a bunch of Juniors, who sadly didn’t make it.

“Xander?”, Buffy asked when she realized he was missing. Tears spilt down her face when she looked at Willow who was sobbing loudly on Tara’s shoulder. At least this time she wouldn’t go dark… she had Tara as an anchor.

“He tried to pull Anya out of there and…”, Tara said, but she was so upset her stutter returned and she stopped trying to talk. She just let tears fall.

The town of Sunnydale was rapidly disappearing before their very eyes and Giles drove as fast as the bus would let him.

When they were finally out of the town’s limits, he stepped on the brakes and everyone got out of the vehicle to take a closer look.

Sunnydale was gone. There was just a big gaping hole. The cancer of the Hellmouth just got removed and the town got to rest in pieces.

“Holy shit, did Angel’s necklace do this?”, Faith asked and squeezed Buffy’s hand. The blonde looked so lost in space and time, but she slowly squeezed Faith’s hand back.

“Yeah…”, Buffy whispered, she was so tired she could barely speak. But maybe she would get to rest now that she wasn’t the only Slayer, besides Faith.

“He was my champion.”, Cordy said, tears choking her. “I loved him and I had no time to tell him that.”

“He told me to tell you he loved you.”, Buffy lied because her heart was breaking for Cordelia.

“No, he didn’t, but thanks for saying it.”, Cordy gave Buffy a tiny smile and started wiping the tears away.

“So, what now? Who wants to go shopping? I need new shoes.”, Dawn said and grinned at Cordy, who LOVED shoes more than Buffy did.

“I t-think I just wanna s-sleep for a w-week.”, said Tara and snuggled with Willow, who couldn’t stop sobbing and wiping her teary face.

“I was hoping for lots of sex, but my baby is hurt so I’ll have to settle for cuddles and sleep.”, Faith teased and smiled when Buffy wrapped her arms around her neck and gazed into those chocolate eyes.

“You never said what you wanted to do, Buffy.”, Giles said, he was so proud of his DAUGHTER.

“Live.”, Buffy said and kissed Faith, who happily kissed her back and couldn’t wait to start a new life with her Chosen One.


End file.
